Ukraine and Romania have signed a memorandum of understanding under the Carpathian Economic Forum (C8 Summit), based on an updated Strategy for the Development of Cross-Border Infrastructure between the countries that takes into account transportation needs for both freight and passenger traffic.
According to a statement by Ukraine's Ministry for Restoration, Infrastructure and Transport, the document was signed by Minister Mykola Kalashnyk and Irinel Ionel Scrioșteanu, State Secretary of Romania's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
Under the memorandum, the countries are expected to work on modernizing and developing road border crossings and access roads, strengthening rail connections, as well as simplifying border control procedures and expanding opportunities for transshipment of Ukrainian cargo at Romanian ports.
Among other things, the countries plan to increase the capacity of existing border crossings and develop new routes; in particular, the updated Strategy identifies 17 border crossing points, 10 of which are new proposals.
"The signed memorandum sets out specific areas for this work. It is important for us to increase border capacity and create stable and predictable routes for Ukrainian businesses to the European Union and Romanian ports," the Ukrainian minister for restoration, infrastructure and transport said, as quoted in the press release.
The ministry said that the next stage would be to move toward implementation of the relevant projects and attract financing for their execution.
