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Russia, Lithuania to sign agreement on bridge construction across Niemen

The new bridge will link Lithuania’s town of Panemune and Russia’s city of Sovetsk

VILNIUS, September 14 (Itar-Tass) — Russia and Lithuania will sign an agreement on the construction of a motor bridge across the river Niemen, which separates the two countries, in October, an official from the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

“Talks are over, all the details have been successfully squared with our Russian partners,” Zenonas Kumetaitis, a deputy director of the ministry’s eastern policy department, told journalists.

According to the Lithuanian diplomat, the Lithuanian-Russian bridge project is geared to facilitate the development of transport links and border infrastructure between Lithuania and Russia’s easternmost Kaliningrad exclave. It is planned that the agreement will be signed at a next session of the Russian-Lithuanian intergovernmental commission.

The new bridge will link Lithuania’s town of Panemune and Russia’s city of Sovetsk. The old Queen Louise Bridge between the cities was built in 1907. Badly scarred by World War II and rebuilt in 1946 now is in technically poor condition. The new bridge will be built just stown throw from the old one. The Russian part of the project is estimated at 15 million euros, the Lithuanian part – at 17 million euros. A total of ten million euros will come from the European Union’s funds.

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