The Japan Bank for International Development (JBIC) and finance minister Plamen Oresharski signed an agreement for financing planned construction of container terminals at the two major Black Sea ports of Varna and Burgas, a note published on the website of the finance ministry informs. The project is valued at EUR 340.9mn. JBIC financing accounts for 67.6% of the total amount or EUR 230.5mn.  The remaining part will be provided by the state budget. The loan to JBIC should be repaid in 25 years with a grace period of 7 years and annual interest rate of 1.4%. 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 under Japan ’s government aid for development ODA which should be completed in 2015. The total aid from Japan in the past 20 years amounts to USD 1.2bn (the new loan excluded).