Supporting Ukrainian exports and improving connections to the EU: Commission strengthens cooperation with Ukraine and Moldova

Yesterday, Commissioner for transport Adina Vălean together with Ukrainian minister for infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov, and Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu, signed road freight transport agreements between the EU and each country. The agreements will help secure supply chains, including food security following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its blockage of traditional transport routes. In addition, Commissioner Vălean and Minister Kubrakov signed an understanding on updating Ukraine’s indicative TEN-T network to improve infrastructure connections between the EU and Ukraine. The signatures took place during the Connecting Europe Days in Lyon. Commissioner Vălean said: “These two agreements are another example of the concrete ways through which the EU supports Ukraine. We are partly liberalising road transport for Ukrainian and Moldovan hauliers in the EU to keeping up export flows and ensuring that Ukraine can import the goods it needs. They will also provide relief to Moldova, which has lost essential transport routes through Ukraine for its own exports, and whose economy has been heavily impacted by the war in Ukraine. We have also taken steps to tie Ukraine closer to the EU in terms of infrastructure, which will help guide the reconstruction effort once Ukraine has fended off Russia’s war of aggression.” The road transport agreements will facilitate the carriage of goods between the EU, Ukraine and Moldova allowing hauliers to transit through and operate between each other’s territories without the need for permits for these types of operations. The agreement between EU and Ukraine also provides for the recognition of Ukrainian driving licences and certificates of professional competence to further support Ukrainian drivers. Following the high-level understanding on the TEN-T network, the EU will include Ukraine’s updated TEN-T maps in its legislation with the aim to improve connections. The understanding underlines the shared intention to promote adequate planning and development of sustainable and resource-efficient transport connectivity between the two sides. Both actions are part of the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes Action Plan, a large set of activities in the field of transport policy in support of Ukraine.