May 14, First Vice Prime Minister/Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv met with Minister of Investment and Economic Development of Poland Jerzy Kwieciński in Katowice.

In the course of a meeting the parties discussed the deepening of Ukrainian-Polish cooperation, development of Ukraine-Poland intergovernmental infrastructure and strengthening of bilateral trade with the European Union, in particular with Poland.

 "One of the possible instruments for expanding Ukraine-Poland interregional cooperation  is the Carpathian strategy.  The issue at stake is a common and systemic regional policy in the energy, infrastructure, transport and digital economy. This is especially important in the border regions, for example, in the context of increasing the number of  checkpoints across the border with Poland, which is part of the Ukraine-EU border", Stepan Kubiv stated.

The Minister of Investment and Economic Development of Poland stressed that the development of the Carpathian strategy is of utmost importance for Poland and will be crucial for territorial unity and for strengthening cooperation between individual EU member countries, the whole European Union and its Eastern partners, especially Ukraine.

"The Carpathian Strategy allows to increase trade turnover and step up cooperation between the EU and Ukraine. It is necessary to work out concrete projects, first and foremost, in  the field of transport, energy, infrastructure  and especially in the border area. When these projects will be developed, it will be possible to outline transport priorities for the coming years and count on solving the issue of financing these projects through EU instruments", Jerzy Kwieciński underlined.

Background

The Carpathian strategy is a project initiated by  the Sejm of the Republic of Poland and the Parliamentary Carpathian Group. The Carpathian strategy is aimed at expanding cooperation in the field of economic development, environmental protection and cultural relations. It was also designed to implement infrastructure projects between Ukraine and Poland.

The strategy is vitally important for territorial cohesion and strengthening of cooperation between the European Union and its Eastern partners, especially with Ukraine.