July 26 (SeeNews) - Croatia and Slovenia have reached an agreement to ease the restrictions imposed by Ljubljana on truck traffic at crossings on the border with Croatia, the Croatian transport ministry said.
The two countries agreed to allow certain trucks of more than 7.5 tonnes registered in Croatia's municipalities along the border with Slovenia, to pass at some of the crossings that Slovenia banned for traffic of those vehicles last month, the Croatian transport ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The agreement relaxes the restrictions introduced by the Slovenian infrastructure ministry as of June 1 at 17 crossings on the border with Croatia that banned the passing of trucks exceeding 7.5 tonnes, aiming to direct more truck traffic to motorways in order to improve road safety and reduce pollution in Slovenian urban and rural areas.
The restrictions resulted in bigger expenses and longer journeys for Croatian truckers, who were forced to use Slovenia's international border crossings only.
The agreement will take effect as of August 1.
Furthermore, Slovenia and Croatia will set up a joint transport working group that will focus on improving the transport cooperation between the two neighbouring states. The group will start work at the end of September and one of its key tasks will be to resolve the transit corridors issue.