Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that Romania actively supports Ukraine on its way to the future, underscoring that the opening of a new border point with the neighboring country represents both the rapprochement between the two states and the path of Kyiv towards European integration.
On Thursday, he attended with his Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ciuca, the opening of the border crossing point and customs office Vicovu de Sus (Romania) – Krasnoilsk (Ukraine).
„Our meeting today with colleague Nicolae Ciuca takes place at a new border crossing point. The opening of this crossing point represents a rapprochement between our states and confirms our path towards European integration. We’ve met in a very difficult period for Ukraine, that is, during the period when the aggressor destroys all the critical infrastructure of Ukraine, especially as winter is approaching. We are grateful to the Romanian side for supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Romania is very actively supporting us in the fight against the aggressor, Romania supports the idea of forming an international court, Romania supports us on our way to the future. We would be very grateful to the Romanian side if they would officially recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and support our initiative to exclude Russia from the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)”, stated Denys Shmyhal.
He highlighted that after February 24, redirection towards the West became the most important for Ukraine.
„Thus, we redirected our export, namely to the West. To the West, the people who had to leave the country came to the West. Namely, through these borders our citizens return home, through these borders we receive the voluminous humanitarian aid from the European Union countries. So, that is why the opening of the new crossing point is a priority for the Government of Ukraine. We have already reconstructed a number of crossing points on the border with Poland, including in the Transcarpathian region, we have reconstructed a crossing point with Slovakia. But the biggest progress we achieved at the Ukrainian-Romanian border. From today, a new border crossing point Krasnoilsk – Vicovu de Sus will work here. Its opening was still foreseen by that intergovernmental agreement from 2012, but today we achieved this ambitious project is in practice. It is the first border crossing point that was built from scratch, from 1999 until now”, said the PM yesterday.
The head of the Executive from Kyiv announced that a new border crossing point with Romania, the one at Racovat-Diakivtsi, is being rebuilt and will be opened as soon as possible for transport traffic, following along with six other common border crossing points to be made operational in the future.
„We are talking about a border crossing point at Diakivtsi-Racovat, which we expect and hope that we can open by the end of this year or at most in the first month of next year. We are talking about the reconstruction and, in fact, the building, the opening of a railway crossing point not far as the location of the Diakivtsi-Racovat crossing point and five more border crossing points. Some of them have a rudimentary infrastructure, some of them do not exist at all, we will build them from scratch. He will take care of the development of this network of points crossing The working group that was proposed today by the Prime Minister of Romania. Now we have seven, including the crossing point where we are here, and we will develop another 7 at the border,” explained Shmyhal.
He stated that the Consultative Mission of the European Union in Ukraine will also participate in this process.
„Their participation will contribute to obtaining funds from the European Union for the development of this infrastructure. The development of the border infrastructure will have positive consequences for Ukraine, unequivocally. Exports to Romania and other European Union countries will increase. The volume of goods that Ukraine will obtain will increase. This will also contribute to the strengthening of economic relations between Ukraine and Romania. I am certain that together we will defeat the enemy and open a new stage of development,” stated the Prime Minister.
Shmyhal also thanked for the humanitarian aid sent to Ukraine and appreciated, as very important, the fact that Romania sent the Ukrainian parts and power generators, considering the current energy crisis.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Prime Minister appreciated the readiness of the Romanian side to participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine, especially the Novopetrovsk region.
Romania and Ukraine open new border crossing to ease traffic from war-torn country
