Today, during a visit to Romania, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets and Minister of Environment, Water and Forests of Romania Barna Tánczos signed an Agreement on the implementation of the Espoo Convention.

“This is extremely important, because we have been going for it for 18 long years. The agreement covers the Carpathian region and common transboundary river basins, including the Danube delta. Thus, Ukraine and Romania will finally be able to agree on the implementation of the requirements of the Espoo Convention in the construction of the Danube-Black Sea Canal and other joint transboundary projects,” Ruslan Strilets stressed.

According to the Minister, the Agreement is only the first step of implementation of the Road Map, which was developed for Ukraine by the Convention Implementation Committee. Next, we have to do our “homework” and hold numerous consultations with Romania.

“The signing of the agreement is also a European integration step, as it will ensure fulfillment of Ukraine’s international obligations and testifies to our political will and readiness to cooperate under the mechanisms and procedures defined by the Espoo Convention,” the head of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources noted.

The team of the Ministry worked on the text of the Agreement together with the experts of the EU4Environment project.