On March 6, at a high-level meeting, the European Commission, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine reiterated their firm commitment to continue supporting Ukraine’s access to trade routes that ensure its essential exports and imports through Solidarity Lanes.
Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine recognized the importance of strengthening regional cooperation to ensure smooth transport and logistics operations in a contingency context.
In particular, the three countries agreed to continue working together to implement the Danube Action Plan 2.0, created under the European Commission’s Solidarity Corridors initiative, with a view to strengthening cooperation for efficient and safe navigation on the Danube River, promoting effective communication between ports in Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, optimizing information exchange to support transport operations, and providing rapid responses to manage any traffic disruptions in the Black Sea/Danube area.
The three countries reaffirmed their commitment to continue working closely together to maintain and improve transport links between Danube ports, increase the safety and efficiency of navigation, and establish contingency mechanisms in crisis situations, ensuring uninterrupted access to Danube ports. By continuing to work together, they aim to promote inland waterway transport and ensure transport and transshipment capacity when needed.
Cooperation on rail and road transport
Given the vulnerability of the rail and road routes connecting Ukraine with the Danube ports, the partners have agreed to extend this cooperation mechanism to land transport connections (rail and road) in order to provide additional backup solutions when needed. The focus will be on increasing the capacity of road border crossing points through improved control procedures and the modernization of access infrastructure and equipment, as well as on developing economically viable solutions to encourage the use of alternative rail routes, in particular through Moldova.
Beyond contingency issues, this cooperation also aims to pave the way for a future integrated, safe, secure, and resilient regional transport system that benefits all partners equally. This cooperation mechanism will aim to coordinate project planning and investment, ensuring a high level of transport services for users, with a view to integrating the transport systems of Ukraine and Moldova into that of the European Union.
The Solidarity Corridors were launched in May 2022 and have so far enabled Ukraine to export around 209 million tons of goods, facilitating the export of 98 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products and 111 million tons of non-agricultural goods, including ores, steel, and related products. These corridors have also enabled Ukraine to import approximately 95 million tons of goods, such as fuel, vehicles, fertilizers, as well as military and humanitarian assistance.
The total value of trade through the Solidarity Corridors in May 2022 is estimated at approximately 260 billion EUR, of which approximately 70 billion EUR represents Ukrainian exports. The total value of imports into Ukraine is estimated at approximately 190 billion EUR.
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