Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and his Romanian counterpart, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, have confirmed their support for the speedy construction of a second Danube bridge connecting the two countries.

Their agreement on the construction of the bridge, linking Vidin in Bulgaria with Calafat in Romania, came during Tariceanu’s visit to Sofia on September 19, speroforum.com quoted reports by local media.

Stanishev said the construction project was important not only for Bulgaria but also for the EU.

Observers said the bridge matters more to Bulgaria than to Romania which showed reluctance for many years to go ahead with the project that provides an additional transport artery from Bulgaria to central and western Europe.

According to the former Regional Development Minister Evgeni Chachev it was less of a priority for Bulgaria now than it was in the 1990s.

"Danube bridge-2 was of great importance during and immediately after the wars in the former Yugoslavia because we needed an alternative route to Europe at that time", Chachev told Balkan Insight.

Construction work should be finished by the middle of 2010, according to the latest plans.

"There is no reason for any further delay", Ivan Tsenov, the mayor of Vidin told Balkan Insight.

On September 19 Romanian Prime Minister invited Bulgarian companies to invest in his country.

He opened a furniture store in Sofia in which Romania’s Mobexport invested €10 million. Mobexport plans to spend a total of €40-50 million on 20 stores in Bulgaria.

So far Romania has invested €65 million in Bulgaria, Tariceanu said.