The final consultations between the delegations of Ukraine and the European Commission were held with the participation of the leadership of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia".
The agreement provides for the implementation of bilateral and transit traffic on Ukrainian carriers without permits. Signing of the document is scheduled for the end of June.
Nikolai Solskyy noted during the meeting that today it is important for Ukraine and the EU to simplify and accelerate procedures for logistics. Signing of the Special Agreement on liberalization of road transport between Ukraine and the EU abolishes the need to obtain corresponding permits on a permanent basis and will avoid stopping the export of Ukrainian products through the road border crossing points.
Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov noted that the Ukrainian side is simultaneously working on the development of border infrastructure, which has significantly increased the capacity at the western borders. In particular, all the bottlenecks at the border will be eliminated within the framework of the "Open Border" project.
The limited number of permits for international transportation has been a rather critical problem for Ukrainian carriers for the last 5 years. Since the signing of the Agreement on Free Trade Zone between Ukraine and the EU in 2016, trade turnover with EU countries has almost doubled, and the number of cargo shipments by road transport has increased by 42%.
At the same time the number of permits for international transport to certain EU countries not only did not increase, but even decreased. Every year this resulted in great losses for Ukrainian carriers and the country's economy as a whole.
Under the conditions of a full-scale war and blockade of Ukrainian ports, the volume of exports by road transport and, as a consequence, the need for permits for international transport in some directions increased several times.
In the first month of full-scale invasion Ukraine managed to reach agreements on temporary cancellation of permits for cargo transportation by road with 12 EU countries (Austria, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, Romania, Greece and Slovakia).