As part of the Carpathian Economic Forum, Ukraine’s Minister for Recovery, Infrastructure and Transport Mykola Kalashnyk and Ionel Scrioșteanu, State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Romania, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on strengthening cooperation to ensure reliable transit of Ukrainian goods.

The Memorandum is based on the updated Strategy for the Development of Border Infrastructure between the two countries, which takes into account new needs and challenges in ensuring the carriage of freight and passengers.

The Memorandum sets out further joint steps by Ukraine and Romania to develop transport routes between the two countries.

These include the modernisation and development of road border crossing points and access roads, the strengthening of rail connections, the simplification of border control procedures, and the expansion of capacity for transshipment of Ukrainian cargo at Romanian ports.

A separate area of cooperation is the development of joint border infrastructure. Ukraine and Romania plan to increase the capacity of existing border crossing points and develop new connections. The updated joint strategy covers 17 border crossing points, 10 of which are new proposals.

The development of the Romanian transport route is important for diversifying Ukraine’s export logistics. Increasing the capacity of border crossing points, developing rail infrastructure and making wider use of Romanian ports should help create more stable and predictable delivery routes for Ukrainian goods to the EU and other markets.

The next stage will be the transition to implementing the infrastructure projects defined in the Memorandum and attracting funding for their implementation. Ukraine and Romania will continue coordinating to ensure synchronised infrastructure development on both sides of the border, increase its capacity and strengthen transport links between Ukraine and the European Union.

Source: https://mininfra.gov.ua