Ukraine should become international transport hub, says Vladyslav Kryklii
Ukraine should become international transport hub and Azerbaijan is an important partner for achieving this goal. This was stated by Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Vladyslav Kryklii during a speech at the Ukraine-Azerbaijan Round Table with the participation of Ukrainian and Azerbaijani companies today, January 30, 2020, in Kiev. The round table was held within the framework of the 12th meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Ukrainian-Azerbaijani Commission on Economic Cooperation at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine. The Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov took part in the meeting.
"The development of international transport is one of the priorities of the Government of Ukraine. We have set ambitious goals and are beginning to put them into practice. Ukraine needs to become international transport hub and Azerbaijan is an important partner for achieving this goal. Ukraine is interested in developing mutually beneficial cooperation with Azerbaijan in all spheres of economy, in particular, infrastructure and transport. The pressing issues today are to create favorable conditions for transport between countries and to develop the Europe-Caucasus-Asia transport corridor. These are important elements of the development of strategic partnership between our countries," Vladyslav Kryklii stressed.
The Minister emphasized that Ukraine is interested in the early implementation of the Euro-Asian oil transport corridor project with the purpose of organizing oil deliveries from the Caspian region to the markets of the European Union countries: region in the field of energy and transport, as an integral part of the global energy market and a link between Europe and Asia. Ukraine continues to take steps to promote infrastructure reforms, implement and comply with European transport legislation.
The Infrastructure Minister informed that the Government plans to finance an unprecedented volume of reconstruction and repair works of highways. "I invite Azerbaijani contracting-companies to participate in tenders for the implementation of new joint projects. Thanks to the new law on concessions, our key investment object is the concession of infrastructure facilities, in particular seaports. Two concession tenders were held at Olvia and Kherson ports and winners were announced. We are working on a concession in the seaports "Mariupol" and "Berdyansk". We also offer concession tenders in the port of Odesa, ferry service at the port of Chernomorsk," he underlined.
According to the Minister, besides seaports, the Ministry of Infrastructure is also working on projects of concessions of roads, regional airports and railway stations: "Our competitions are transparent and open. We invite Azerbaijani companies to take part in new concession tenders," Vladyslav Kryklii stressed.