Ukraine and Belarus have decided to develop navigation across the Dnipro and Pripyat Rivers.

The press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine said Minister Volodymyr Omelyan gave the information after a meeting with Minister of Transport and Communications of Belarus Anatoly Sivak, which took place in Kyiv on December 5, 2017. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

The infrastructure minister said that Ukraine and Belarus are giving priority attention to the development of transport communications between the two countries, in particular, the work on improving navigation on common waterways is being intensified and is expanding.

"One of the priority areas for the development of relations between Ukraine and Belarus is to ensure conditions for the transit of goods by water transport across the territory of Ukraine, including using the river-sea class vessels," Omelyan said.

He also pointed out the joint work of the two countries on the restoration of navigation between Ukraine and Belarus, in particular the E-40 waterway, and the creation of safe shipping conditions on the Dnipro and Pripyatrivers.

The minister of infrastructure of Ukraine thanked the minister of transport of Belarus for constructive and fruitful work on the approval of the road map project, which was signed at the ministerial meeting.

"The presidents of our states pay special attention to this issue. Today we have signed the road map with details and stages of the implementation of projects to develop navigation on the Dnipro and Pripyat rivers," Omelyan said.

The implementation of the provisions of the road map requires financial resources that are planned to be drawn from international financial institutions (IFIs) and donors.

The parties pointed out a positive pace in the growth of road transport and confirmed their interest in further increasing freight turnover between the countries. They also discussed other issues in the transport sector.

In addition, the parties agreed to increase the quota of permits for international transportation of passengers and goods by road to 65,000 units, and division by types of permits will be carried out taking into account the needs of carriers of the two countries.

In addition, the participants in the meeting spoke about the development of the North-South transport link across the territory of Ukraine and Belarus with the goal of providing optimal logistics schemes for the delivery of goods using the infrastructure of Belarus and Ukraine.