An agreement on Ukraine's participation in the EU's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov and European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean in Lviv on Tuesday, which paves the way for Ukraine to receive funding under this program, whose total budget until 2027 is about EUR 21 billion.

"Now Ukraine has access to these funds. How do we intend to use this opportunity? First of all, the emphasis on the development of export logistics on our western borders," Kubrakov said on Facebook.

This is about increasing the throughput capacity of road and rail checkpoints, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

According to him, Ukraine, after discussions with European partners, has submitted six project proposals under this EU financial instrument and is awaiting the results of the selection in June.

Kubrakov said the preparation of project proposals for 2024 has already launched.

According to Head of Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytsky, the project proposals of the Restoration Ministry provide for the optimization and modernization of infrastructure at road and rail checkpoints to increase throughput.

In addition, he said, during the meeting, representatives of the Restoration Ministry considered the possibility of reopening Lviv airport for humanitarian needs and discussed the possibility of increasing the number of checkpoints with Poland.

According to a Facebook post by the Restoration Ministry, funding for projects presented at CEF provides that half of the cost will be reimbursed by the applicant country from its own sources or international financial institutions, and 50% of the funding will be provided by the program.

The Connecting Europe Facility for Transport is a financing instrument for the implementation of European transport infrastructure policies. It aims to support investments in the construction of new transport infrastructure in Europe or the rehabilitation and modernization of existing ones.

The objectives of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) policy are to build a core network structured around nine multimodal corridors by 2030 and complete an integrated network by 2050 to facilitate access to all European regions.

CEF for Transport also supports innovation in the transport system to improve the use of infrastructure, reduce the environmental impact of transport, improve energy efficiency and safety.