Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Vladyslav Kryklii held a virtual meeting with the Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania Marius Skuodis today, January 28.

The parties discussed the prospects of Ukrainian-Lithuanian cooperation in the field of infrastructure and joint participation in international logistics projects, as well as attracting additional cargo flows. The event was also attended by Deputy Minister of Infrastructure for European Integration Natalia Forsiuk.

Vladyslav Kriklii congratulated Mr. Marius Skuodis on his recent appointment as Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania and praised the desire of both countries to maintain active dialogue and cooperation even amid a pandemic.

Ministers stressed the importance to prolong joint activities aimed to attract additional freight traffic on the railways and to create favorable and competitive conditions for this. Among the positive examples, Vladyslav Kryklii noted the transit of the Viking combined transport train, which connects the infrastructure of the sea lines of the Baltic region with a similar infrastructure of the Black Sea. As a result, on the outcomes of 2020, the volume of container traffic between Ukraine and Lithuania as part of this train increased by 21% compared to the pre-crisis 2019.

According to Vladyslav Kryklii, the current quota of permits for international road transport meets the needs of Ukrainian carriers. Meanwhile, he welcomed the decision of both parties to work out a draft Protocol amending the Agreement between the governments of both countries on the liberalization of bilateral and transit traffic in the future.

It should be noted that on September 29, 2020, the 20th meeting of the Ukrainian-Lithuanian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was held in the framework of which the trends and prospects of further bipartite cooperation between Ukraine and Lithuania, including in the transport sector.