Ukraine, EU agree on text of agreement liberalizing transporting goods by vehicles

MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - The European Commission has approved the final text of the special agreement liberalizing the carriage of goods by road transport between the European Union and Ukraine.

Final consultations between the delegations of Ukraine and the European Commission took place with participation of senior officials of the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure, Ukrainian media outlets said citing the ministry's official pages on social networks.

The text of the agreement envisages bilateral and transit transportation of goods by Ukrainian carriers without any permits.

The document is to be signed in late June.

"Thanks to the conclusion of such agreement we will be able to improve and accelerate the logistics between Ukraine and the EU considerably. Simultaneously, we are working on the development of the border infrastructure which has considerably increased the turnover capacity on the western borders," Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said.

According to the ministry, the limited number of permits for international transportation has been quite a critical issue for Ukrainian carriers in the past five years, because during this time, trade with the member states of the European Union has nearly doubled, and the number of cargo transportation by roads has increased by 42%.

At the same time, the number of permits for international transportation to certain countries in the European Union was declining, which led to large losses for both Ukrainian carriers and the country's economy in general.

The signing of the Ukraine-EU agreement liberalizing the carriage of goods by road transport eliminates the need to obtain appropriate permits on an ongoing basis and will enable avoiding halting exports of Ukrainian goods through vehicle border crossing points, the Ministry of Infrastructure said.

As reported, in early February 2022, Ukraine and Turkey reached an agreement on complete liberalization of the carriage of goods by road transport as part of the Free Trade Zone Agreement.