ATHENS, April 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The governments of Greece, Russia and Bulgaria will sign a multi-million-euro agreement next week for the construction of a trans-Balkan oil pipeline which will enable Russian oil firms to sidestep bottlenecks and boost oil exports, Greek Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas said Thursday.

    "The governments of Russia, Bulgaria and Greece agreed to sign the memorandum and the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline," he said at a press conference attended by the ambassadors of Russia and Bulgaria.

    The 285-kilometer-long (177-mile-long) pipeline -- linking Bulgaria's port of Burgas to Greece's Alexandroupolis on the Aegean Sea -- will allow Russia to export oil through the Black Sea while bypassing the busy Bosporus Strait in Turkey.

    "It is a historic moment," Sioufas said. The signing will take place April 12 in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

    "The three governments express their strong political will, conviction and support for the need to carry out the project," he added.

    The Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline from Bulgaria's Black Sea coast to the Aegean is expected to have an initial capacity of 15 million tons, or 300,000 barrels per day, rising to 24 million tons or 700,000 barrels per day over three years, but progress on the project had been slow since its proposal in 2000. It is estimated to cost between 750 million dollars to 800 million dollars.

    Last month, Greece's deputy Development Minister George Salagoudis said the governments would not become shareholders in the project and that construction could begin in 2006. Enditem