Infrastructure Ministry to account for basic obligations under the RIO Conventions to ensure compliance with the EU legislation

The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, in the framework of the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU, shall take into account an analysis of the existing national sector legislation to ensure execution of the commitments under the RIO Conventions (the objective is preservation and restoration of the ecosystem of the Earth), which was made by the experts of the UNDP-GEF project. The results of this analysis for aircraft, automotive, marine, river and railway transport were presented during the round table "Sector policy and legislation in the transport area of Ukraine in the context of the implementation of the commitments under the RIO Conventions". The event took place in Ministry of Infrastructure on 25 November with the participation of Deputy Minister for European integration Oksana Reiter, Chairman of the all-Ukrainian environmental League, expert Tatiana Timochko, consultants of the UNDP office in Ukraine, other representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure, transport research institutes, etc.

"The Ministry of Infrastructure welcomes this project. As transport is the area that most affects the environment in the country, the Ministry of Infrastructure supports initiatives to develop and promote environmental safety. In the process of international transportation Ukrainian carriers completely adhere to the modern environmental requirements and standards (Convention MARPOL, the relevant UNECE conventions and other) - in particular regarding the technical condition of vehicles, prevention of pollution from ships. Therefore, the Ministry of Infrastructure supports the need to introduce into Ukrainian legislation and to follow such norms for the internal transport," said Oksana Reiter.

The Deputy Minister thanked the participants of the UNDP-GEF project "Integration of the provisions of the RIO Conventions into the national policy of Ukraine" for a thorough and professional analysis of traffic law, how the obligations under these international instruments are fulfilled, and invited to participate in panels established within the Ministry to ensure the implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

Besides, Oksana Reiter stressed that the Ministry of Infrastructure is open for cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Nature Resources aimed at elaboration, approval and submission of proposals to implement the environmental directives and EU regulations, those directly or indirectly related to the transport sector.

It should be noted in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, during a UN Conference on Environment there were launched three conventions: Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on Climate Change and Convention to Combat Desertification. Ukraine is a party to the three conventions. The responsibility for execution of the mentioned documents was placed on the Ministry of Environment and Nature Resources of Ukraine.