Ukraine and the EU finalize on the text of the agreement on liberalization of road transport

The European Commission has agreed on the final text of the EU-Ukraine Special Agreement on the Liberalization of Road Transport.

Final consultations between the delegations of Ukraine and the European Commission took place with the participation of the leadership of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia".

The agreement stipulates for the performance of bilateral and transit traffic by Ukrainian carriers without permits. The signing of the document is scheduled for the end of June.

Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky noted during the meeting that simplification and acceleration of logistics procedures is of paramount importance for Ukraine and the EU today. The signing of the Special Agreement on Liberalization of Road Transport between Ukraine and the EU eliminates the need to obtain appropriate permits on a permanent basis and will avoid stopping the export of Ukrainian products through road checkpoints.

Minister of Infrastructure Olexandr Kubrakov noted that the Ukrainian side is working in parallel on the development of border infrastructure, which would significantly increase capacity at the western borders. In particular, all bottlenecks at the border will be eliminated within the framework of the Open Border project.

The limited number of permits for international transportation has been a rather critical problem for Ukrainian carriers over the past 5 years. Since the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and the EU in 2016, trade with the European Union has almost doubled, and the number of road haulage - by 42%.

At the same time, the number of permits for international transport to individual EU countries not only did not increase, but even decreased. Every year, this led to large losses for both Ukrainian carriers and the economy as a whole.

In the context of a full-scale war and the blockade of Ukrainian ports, the volume of exports by road and, as a result, the need for permits for international transport in some areas has increased several times.

In the first month of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine managed to reach agreements on the temporary revocation of trucking permits with 12 EU countries (Austria, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, Romania, Greece and Slovakia).