Ukraine has joined Global Container Control Programme (CCP) of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Customs Organization (WCO), acting Head of the State Fiscal Service Myroslav Prodan has reported.

"Today, together with UNODC Director of Policy Analysis and Public Affairs Jean-Luc Lemahieu and Head of the State Border Service Petro Tsyhykal we signed a memorandum," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Prodan pointed out a significant increase in the recent flow of goods in Ukraine: in 2017, the country received 700,000 more containers than in 2016.

"We have registered almost 5 million containers, and the transit has also increased. In Odesa Maritime Merchandise Sea Port it has grown by more than 16%. Effective control over the flow of containers, which is constantly growing, is impossible without cooperation with foreign partners, without obtaining information on cargo with a high degree of risk, so we stepped up the negotiation process to participate in the Global Container Control Programme," he said.

According to Prodan, thanks to the participation in this programme, Ukraine gets access to international databases with the help of which it is possible to track illegal flows of drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods.

"Even before a container reaches Ukraine, we will already know about the possibility of using it for illegal transportation," he said.

Prodan also said that in preparation for joining the program in the last year two groups were created - in the Odesa seaport and the Boryspil airport (Kyiv).

"Our foreign partners have trained these groups. Today they will be able to fully analyze the data on the international containers control system. We can now fully assess the risks of those cargoes that come to Ukraine or move through our state as transit," he wrote.

Prodan added that in the future it is planned to create groups at checkpoints on the country's western border.