KYIV- Ukraine has signed a 35-year concession deal with Qatari sea port operator QTerminals to develop and operate the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Olvia, Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii said on Thursday.

QTerminals, a joint venture between state-owned Qatar Ports Management (Mwani Qatar) and shipping and logistics group Qatar Navigation (Milaha), won the concession tender in January.

"At the first stage, 3.4 billion hryvnias ($124.5 million) will be invested in the project. This is the first Qatari direct investment (in Ukraine)," the minister said at a televised briefing.

Kryklii said that under the terms of the tender Ukraine would receive a concession fee of at least 80 million hryvnias annually, in addition to 3.4 billion hryvnias in direct investments over the next five years.

Ukraine is discussing further infrastructure projects with Qatar, the minister added, without giving details.

Established in 1992 in the Mykolayiv region, Olvia can accept vessels with the deadweight of up to 80,000 tonnes. Last year the terminal processed 3 million tonnes of cargo, according to a local specialised news agency.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Editing by Jan Harvey) ((Natasha.Zinets1@thomsonreuters.com;))