Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov:
"Today I took part in a joint meeting of the governments of Ukraine and Poland, during which issues of cooperation in the field of transport and logistics development between the two countries were discussed.
In the context of the blockade of seaports, fuel shortages on the Ukrainian market, and the threat of a food crisis, cooperation between Ukraine and Poland has become global, so it needs further expansion.
One of the priority areas is increasing the capacity of checkpoints at the common border. They agreed with their Polish colleagues to speed up the process of developing projects for the modernization and construction of checkpoints and intensify the search for sources of funding.
To institutionally support these goals, the Government of Ukraine has decided to establish a Working Group on the development and development of Open Border Checkpoints, which will include the heads of all key agencies. Thanks to the new format, we will be able to quickly solve all problems on the Ukrainian-Polish border and develop a joint step-by-step plan to improve the work of checkpoints.
We expect the same decision from our Polish colleagues and hope that we will hold the first joint meeting shortly.
Also, in cooperation with our Polish colleagues, we are intensifying the dialogue on joint control at all checkpoints. Currently, joint control is carried out at 4 of the 8 checkpoints: Smilnytsia-Krostenko, Hrushiv-Budomezh, Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv and Ustyluh-Zosin. We expect that the waiting time in the queue will be significantly reduced due to this decision.
In particular, a pilot program aimed at significantly increasing the capacity of the Korchova-Krakovets border crossing will start in June.
He especially thanked his Polish colleagues for supporting the initiative of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine to sign a special agreement on the liberalization of road transport Ukraine - EU. Thanks to this decision of Poland, we can speed up negotiations with the European Commission, which began last autumn.
I hope that Ukrainian carriers will get rid of the need to obtain permits to cross the borders of Ukraine and EU member states in the near future.
I thank my Polish colleagues for their comprehensive assistance in these difficult times for Ukraine."
