Following the recent blockades and problems at the Bulgarian/Turkish borders an arrangement for a new agreement on freight transport has been discussed between the two countries.

The agreement was reached late on Monday 17 February 2014 following six hours of talks between the transport ministers of Bulgaria and Turkey, Danail Papazov and Lyutvi Elvan. In a TV interview, Papazov explained that Bulgaria and Turkey had agreed to move towards a total liberalisation of license regimes by drafting a new agreement to replace the current one which dated back to 1977 and had grown very outdated. He informed that the new rules were to take effect in April and no new border blockades and protests were expected by then. Representatives of the administrations of Bulgaria and Turkey are now due to meet in early March to start preparing the new document so that it could be signed by end-March. In addition to earlier action, the Bulgarian -Turkish border had been closed for TIR trucks throughout last week due to the dispute over one-off transit traffic permits, causing huge truck queues to accumulate."