Nicaragua Canal construction on agenda of Russia-Nicaragua meeting

 Meeting of the Russia-Nicaragua intergovernmental commission will discuss construction of the so-called Interoceanic Grand Canal to connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans across the territory of Nicaragua. The meeting is due in Moscow on September 9, Nicaragua’s Deputy Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Molina, co-chairing the commission, said on Monday.
Nicaragua’s delegation will feature ministers of industry and finance, he said.
“The meeting will continue the earlier series of meetings between representatives of the two countries,” he said. “I hope we shall continue the approaches, which will bring practical results.”
“We expect to finalise by the yearend the technical aspects of the canal’s construction, which will be a mega project for Nicaragua’s economy,” the deputy foreign minister said in an interview with ITAR-TASS. “The most important issue we are facing now is the environmental risks. We hope they will be minimal.”
The high-ranking official said Nicaragua’s authorities planned the construction would begin in 2015 already. The country has entered an agreement with a Chinese company already, he said.
“We hope Russian companies will also participate in the project,” he said. “We are interested in that.”
Nicaragua’s deputy foreign minister said the agenda will also include cooperation in agricultural engineering, “which is very important for Nicaragua,” grain supplies from Russia to Nicaragua, as well as cooperation in production and supplies of vaccines.
The Nicaragua Canal (also referred to as the Nicaragua Grand Canal or the Nicaragua Interoceanic Grand Canal) is a proposed shipping route through Nicaragua to connect the Caribbean Sea (and therefore the Atlantic Ocean) with the Pacific Ocean. Construction of such a shipping route - using the San Juan River as an access route to Lake Nicaragua - was first proposed in the early colonial era.