Moldova and Ukraine for the first time can apply for financing infrastructure projects, as EU countries, under the Connecting Europe Facility.
This was announced by European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean, who said that the European Commission announced on September 26 a new call for proposals within the Connecting Europe Facility, and Moldova and Ukraine for the first time will be able to request financing for infrastructure projects located along the Solidarity Lanes, observing the same principles as any other EU member state, to do it independently as equal partners. She recalled that the Solidarity Lanes were established last May to create alternative routes for Ukraine's agricultural exports and for Ukraine to import what it needs. This became necessary after the closure of the Black Sea route, which had been the traditional trade route for Ukraine-Moldova trade. After the launch of the Solidarity Lanes, 2 million tons of Ukrainian grain, oilseeds and related products were transported through them. In August this year, this figure amounted to 4 million tons. "We had challenges – bottlenecks, limited capacity, higher logistics costs. But we also had partners; partners who have shown commitment, and – most importantly – solidarity. Solidarity has seen unprecedented cooperation between Romania, and Moldova, for example, on the Danube cluster. But also from further afield. France has played a key role in defining the navigation aids needed to improve safety and capacity along Romania's Sulina channel, and more recently training barge pilots. On the Danube, 85% of the barges operating to and from Ukrainian ports come from EU Member States – not only those close to Ukraine, but also from the Netherlands and Germany," said the European Commissioner for Transport. According to her, since May 2022, the measures taken have led to the optimization of procedures, improvement of traffic management systems and increase of staff. Further, an agreement was reached to increase the capacity of the Danube route by better utilizing existing capacities in certain ports. "Even stronger cooperation between Ukraine, Romania and Moldova, specifically on streamlining border control procedures, will also increase capacity along the land routes to the Danube ports and the port of Constanta," Adina Valean said. She expressed gratitude to all participants for their commitment to increase the throughput capacity of the port of Constanta by identifying additional berths for grain handling and improving the management of access to the port, as well as traffic within the port. All parties have also invested heavily in infrastructure, including industry. "This has paid off. Over the last year, we have exceeded initial expectations on volumes transported through the Solidarity Lanes, and the Lanes have effectively become a lifeline for Ukraine. Since the Black Sea Grain Initiative ended in July, they have become the only routes available for Ukraine's exports and imports. Between May 2022 and August 2023, the Solidarity have allowed Ukraine to export more than 53 million tons of agricultural products, including about 48 million tons of grain, oilseeds and other related products," said the European Commissioner for Transport. According to her, these exports are estimated to have brought Ukraine about 38 billion euros of total income. At the same time, Ukraine imported almost 34 million tons of goods through the Solidarity Lanes worth about 70 billion euros. "This shows that our economic partnership is increasing with both exports and imports. Tomorrow, we will launch a new call under the EU's Connecting Europe Facility. For the first time, Ukraine and Moldova will be able to apply for funding for infrastructure projects along the Solidarity Lanes, and without needing EU partners. They can do it on their feet as equal partners in the Connecting Europe Facility. In short, they can apply on the same basis as any other EU Member State. Commission's services had good preliminary discussions with the Ukrainian teams and we will organise more technical meetings to identify the best projects to be financed. We want to ensure the future integration of Ukraine's railway systems into the EU transport system by deploying the European standard gauge, with the purpose of having a rail connection through Ukraine from Lyviv to Iasi and further to Chisinau. The resulting infrastructure – and that which we have already modernised over the last 16 months – is here to stay and represents de facto the future integration, from an infrastructure point of view, of Ukraine into the EU's Single Market," Adina Valean said. // 26.09.2023 - InfoMarket.
