Ukraine Hopes to Establish International Transport Corridor

Ukraine should regain the status of a transit state and form a comprehensive strategy for the development of all types of cargo transportation, said Minister of Infrastructure, Volodymyr Omelyan, commenting on Ukraine's initiative to establish an international transport corridor through the Baltic Sea - Black Sea - Caspian Sea.

"Ukraine possesses everything needed to restore transit capacities: geographic location, access to the sea, reliable international partners,” Omelyan said. “The establishment of an international transport corridor in the direction of the Baltic Sea - Black Sea - Caspian Sea will develop all types of freight traffic as well as increase existing transport infrastructure."

He also stressed that the agreement will create a platform for constructive dialogue between government and business entities that are interested in the implementation of transit in the region.

"We can work out a mutual single tariff policy and consolidated solutions for the optimization of conditions of intermodal transport: rail, road, ferry, as well as inland waterways," he said.

Ukraine, together with Belarus, aims to enhance the economic capacity of the transport corridor between the EU and the Black Sea basin countries.

"The perspective is to expand the volume of traffic of container trains ‘Viking’ and ‘Zubr.’ In order to increase the volume of transit cargo through Belarus and Ukraine it is necessary to set competitive tariffs. Ukraine, in turn, will continue to develop the ferry route ‘Europe - Caucasus – Asia,’ which will increase trade flows in the direction of the Baltic and Black seas," said Gennady Zubko, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing, adding that promising areas of cooperation with Belarus are also the transport formats ‘Kiev-Minsk-Warsaw,’ ‘Kiev-Minsk-Vilnius’ and ‘Kiev-Minsk-Riga.

Dimitri Dolaberidze