Greece and Russia have vowed to speed up work on a project to build a pipeline from Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek port of Alexandroupolis, local media reported on Sunday.

A statement issued by the Greek Development Ministry after a meeting Friday between Greek Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas and a Russian delegation said "during the meeting, the process of implementing the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project was discussed in detail."

"The sides agreed to take measures in the near future to speed up the implementation of the project," the statement said.

Russia, Greece and Bulgaria will meet in April to discuss details in implementing the project.

The three countries signed an agreement in April, 2005 to build the 280-km-long Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline that will allow Russia to export oil to Europe through the Black Sea, bypassing the busy Bosporus Strait in Turkey..

The pipeline is expected to cost at least 800 million U.S. dollars with an initial annual transporting capacity of 255 million barrels and a planned maximum annual capacity of 370 million barrels.

Source: Xinhua