“Following the start of russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the blockade of sea ports has significantly increased the load on road and rail checkpoints on the western border. In fact, these checkpoints have become the gateway for Ukrainian exports, representing an additional 10 million tonnes of cargo per year. Keeping the gates open has been a major challenge for the Ukrainian authorities, which I believe we have met. However, there are still many tasks and projects to be implemented in the short and medium term. We are now facing the task of expanding the existing checkpoints, coordinating our plans with the relevant authorities of neighbouring countries to ensure rhythmic work, widening access roads, providing additional lanes on the road approaches to the checkpoints, and creating waiting areas in the border area,” Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Oleksandr Kava said on May 6 in Lviv during an offsite meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the European Union.

As part of the meeting, the participants visited the checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border in Yahodyn, Uhryniv, Krakovets, and Shehyni.

The delegation examined the work of the customs units responsible for the control and customs clearance of passengers and cargo at these checkpoints. The participants also discussed the issues of improving the capacity of the existing checkpoints, development of checkpoints and border infrastructure on the Ukrainian-Polish border, and further possibilities for joint Ukrainian-Polish border control.

During the offsite meeting, Oleksandr Kava told the delegation about the joint work of the Ministry of Finance with the State Customs Service and international partners to implement border infrastructure projects on the Ukrainian-Polish border in 2023.

“Of course, we hope that in the future the checkpoints between Ukraine and the EU will disappear, so the issue of creating new communication points between neighbouring countries and developing small cross-border traffic is already relevant today. For example, in Volyn region there is currently only one checkpoint for local residents to cross the border, which is certainly not enough. That is why new border crossing points are a priority for us,” said Oleksandr Kava.

As a result of the offsite meeting, the participants agreed to continue working together on the modernisation of customs checkpoints and to develop joint solutions for the further development of cross-border cooperation.