YEREVAN, November 6. /ARKA/. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said during last week visit to Yerevan that the European Investment Bank (EIB) is ready to cover about half of the cost of laying Internet cable across the Black Sea. The total cost of this project is estimated at €45 million.

"The planned underwater internet cable across the Black Sea under the EU's Global Gateway program can bring Armenia and Azerbaijan closer to each other as well as to us. The European Investment Bank is ready to assume almost half of the total costs of €45 million," Baerbock told reporters before flying to Yerevan, TASS reported.

On Friday, the German Foreign Minister visited Armenia, where she met with her Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan and PM Nikol Pashinyan.

On Saturday, Baerbock travelled to Azerbaijan. Her talks in Baku were expected to center on the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the new Internet cable worth €45 million and 1.1 thousand km long should reduce "the Caucasus' dependence on terrestrial fiber-optic communications transiting Russia."

In addition, as part of the Global Gateway program, the EU intends to lay an electric cable across the Black Sea to connect Georgia and Azerbaijan with Romania and Hungary. --0--