Ukraine and Slovakia to simplify procedure for opening new bus routes

MOSCOW. June 10 (Interfax) - Ukraine and Slovakia have agreed to simplify the procedure for launching new bus routes between the countries, allowing Ukrainian carriers to open such routes even in the absence of a foreign parity partner, Ukrainian media cited the Restoration Ministry as saying on Monday.

The decision was adopted at a meeting of a combined commission of the Restoration Ministry and Slovakia's Transport Ministry, it said in a statement.

"We have consistently been working on simplifying the opening of international bus routes with other countries. A requirement to have a parity partner for opening a route complicates the procedure, creates bureaucratic hurdles for carriers and has no actual impact on maintaining the balance on the market for two-way passenger services. I am grateful to Slovak colleagues for supporting the cancellation of this requirement," the statement quoted Deputy Minister for the Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Sergei Derkach as saying.

Simplifying this procedure will allow carriers to open routes faster and to avoid red tape, it said. Thus, Ukrainian companies will be able to arrange international routes on their own, without the need to search for a partner abroad.

Ukraine and Slovakia also agreed to set a 30-day timeframe for reviewing applications for opening new routes, a move that will help seriously expedite this process and, consequently, the launch of new routes.