The Central Asia Highway's normal operation was already a certainty. Prince Konica's convoy reaching Salitash had proven the point.
This convoy consisted entirely of large military trucks, so if Prince Konica's convoy could pass through, ordinary civilian vehicles could pass through as well.
All that remained was to focus on road maintenance and the follow-up construction of supporting facilities.
That meant necessary facilities such as service areas and gas stations. At the same time, East Africa might also consider building military installations along the route and stationing personnel to keep the highway clear.
While Prince Konica was inspecting highway construction in Central Asia, the Soviet negotiating delegation finally arrived on the East African mainland. Their first stop was not some major city, but Bosaso city on East Africa's Gulf of Aden coast.
The Soviet officials had not traveled by plane. Instead, they chose the relatively safe route of rail and sea travel, first taking a train from Moscow to Odessa, then boarding their own Black Sea shipping company's passenger liner, the Ilya Ehrenburg, and finally arriving in Bosaso city.
Their docking at Bosaso was an arrangement reached after communication between the Soviet government and the East African government.
If this had merely been an ordinary inspection, the Soviets would naturally have preferred to land at one of East Africa's major cities. But this time, the Soviet side's diplomatic visit to East Africa clearly carried a certain urgency.
Choosing Bosaso as the voyage's final destination saved quite a bit of time. After all, even choosing Mogadishu would have meant sailing nearly two thousand more kilometers, while Mombasa was farther still.
Besides that, Bosaso city had rail connections to East Africa's national railway network.
Bosaso city's railway station was also the hub through which goods and personnel arriving from Europe via