Foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin and Japan ’s ambassador Tsuneharu Takeda signed on Friday a note on extending a EUR 230mn loan to the country under the Japan ’s government aid for development ODA, according to information published on the website of the foreign ministry. The funds are to finance the construction of container terminals in the two major Black Sea ports of Varna and Burgas. The container cargo turnover is expected to quadruple until 2015 when the new terminals are to start operations. The volume of cargo serviced at the port in Varna rose by 6% to 99,713 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) last year while the corresponding indicator in Burgas surged 17.9% to 30,587 TEU.

The credit is the sixth and last one from Japan under the programme which should be completed in 2015. The funds will accrue from the Japan Bank for International Development (JBIC). The total aid from Japan in the past 20 years amounts to USD 1.2bn (the new loan excluded). Some USD 400mn are extended by JBIC in the form of preferential loans to finance major infrastructure projects.