In his interview, Mr Burchi declares that the engineering company of Italian railways is highly interested in the export of Italian technologies to new markets. The railway transport reforms, which are under way in Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, attract the general interest of Europe and the interest of European companies in particular. Bulgaria has already attracted the attention of Italian business and economy.

Italferr's main interests concern the development of Plovdiv-Svilengrad project as well as any similar projects, for which it could provide assistance on the basis of its rich experience.

In 2001, Italy adopted a General Plan for Transport and Logistics (PGTL). The so-called Target Law (Legge Obiettivo) contributed much for the faster financial implementation of track engineering projects. This law provided for the introduction and implementation of much more efficient and practical funding mechanisms and in particular for the greater role of public-private partnerships (PPP). At the present moment, a PPP-funded project for Line 5 of Milan Metropolitan is under way, the first phase of which amounts to EUR500 million.

The Italian railway sector faces a serious problem, as it lags much behind the railway sector in countries like France and Spain, which have regularly invested in railways. At a certain point, Italy found itself way behind in this sphere. Now efforts are being made to overcome this situation, which is no easy task. Nevertheless, the Target law (Legge Obiettivo) can make this possible. Much effort is put into catching up with competing countries. Thus, the aim is to develop Italian technologies to such an extent as to enable them reach the foremost and topmost positions.

The most important task is to streamline the use of transport vehicles in accordance with their inherent functions. In other words, railways should transport much more passengers and goods, while the intensive traffic of freight lorries should be restricted, as it creates congestion and pollutes the environment. The future of the railways is very bright, because railways are not only a means of transport, but an environmentally-friendly solution for the transport of passengers and freight. There is an obvious misbalance between rail and road modes. In Italy almost all transport goes by road and very little is transported by rail. This tendency must be reversed.

Mr Burchi considers that Bulgaria should make maximum use of its geographic location with a view to attracting investments. In actual fact, Bulgaria already is an outer border of the European Union.