The European Union and Turkey signed an agreement on Thursday to finance the construction of a railway line for high-speed trains from Istanbul to Bulgaria.
The EU will provide a 275-million-euro (313-million-dollar) grant. The total cost of the project is 1 billion euros.
The train deal is the EU's largest single investment project in Turkey, the bloc said in a statement of the railway line from Halkali station in Istanbul to the Bulgarian border crossing point at the Kapikule/Svelingrad station.
European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen said at a joint press conference in Istanbul with Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak that the EU-Turkey economic dialogue is a good example of how it is better to talk to each other than to talk about each other.
"With the signing of this flagship railway project, EU and Turkey show once more that they can work hand in hand for the benefit of their peoples," EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc said, adding that "Turkey is our bridge between east and west."
