Ukraine, Hungary look to increase number of checkpoints for exports of Ukrainian products - Agrarian Policy Ministry

MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) - Ukraine jointly with Hungary will address the European Union to increase the throughput capacity of checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border.

Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy made the relevant statement during a briefing, Ukrainian media reported, citing the website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Thursday.

"We will address the EU jointly so that we can develop the throughput capacity of transit corridors from both the Ukrainian and Hungarian sides. We are interested in the movement of goods to be accelerated. It is of not only Hungarian, Ukrainian or European interest. This is a global interest," the Ukrainian ministry quoted the Hungarian minister as saying.

During the meeting, Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskyi emphasized that today Ukraine needs to export 18 million tonnes of last year's crops. Additionally, wheat is now being harvested and farmers will shortly be harvesting rapeseed. This is very important for Ukraine to increase its logistical capacity via Hungary and Slovakia to Europe, he said.

"Slovakia and Hungary are logistical corridors in the European market. These routes have not been developed because we have been trading across the sea. As we are moving toward the EU, we need to expand new export destinations to the EU... We have a smaller number of checkpoints on the border with Hungary than with Romania or Poland, so we plan to increase them and we have already been working on this," the Ukrainian minister said.