New checkpoints on border with Romania to promote reorientation of Ukrainian exports - deputy PM

MOSCOW. Aug 14 (Interfax) - Ukraine intends to reorganize the logistics of its exports, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Alexander Kubrakov said.

"We worked on ways to increase Ukrainian exports today in Romania's Galati as part of the Ukraine-U.S.-European Commission-Romania-Moldova meeting. The Romanian part of the Danube River amid limited navigation is important for the reorientation of exports," Ukrainian media quoted Kubrakov as saying on social media.

The key areas of efforts are to speed up the passage of ships through the canals, to increase the throughput capacity on the Sulina canal and to organize additional sites for raid transshipment of ships near the Romanian port of Constanta, he said.

Investments are required for fulfilling these plans, Kubrakov said. For raising them, work with European partners is underway, in particular, on the inclusion of the Ukrainian part of the Danube River in the maps of the Trans-European Transport Network of inland waterways (TEN-T).

"This is one of the important conditions for the full-fledged operation of businesses on the Ukrainian Danube transportation market," he said.

Work is also underway with the Romanian side on the full-fledged launch of freight transportation at the Krasnoyilsk - Vicovu de Sus and Dyakivtsi - Rakovets road checkpoints on the border with Romania, Kubrakov added. There are plans to increase the throughput capacity of the Porubnoye - Siret checkpoint by at least 20% and to open two more new checkpoints, the statement said.

As for the rail transportation, active work is being carried out both in the Romanian and Moldovan directions, Kubrakov said. He recalled the resumption of the passenger trains' traffic on the border with Romania on the Rakhiv - Delovoye - Valea-Visheului section, as well as the activities on the resumption of the passenger traffic at the Teresva border checkpoint.

As reported at the meeting of the Exporters' Office at Ukrainian Railways, a number of measures are also planned to increase the volume of cargo transshipment towards the Izmail port. In particular, the reconstruction of dead-end tracks No. 8 and No. 9 at the Izmail station is planned by the end of the year. It is envisaged that Ukrainian Railways will perform the work at the investor's expense. An additional extraction track parallel to the existing No. 13 in the Izmail port park is scheduled to be built in 2024. Additionally, two marshalling tracks are planned to be built between tracks No. 11 and No. 15. There are plans to electrify the 202-kilometer-long Artsiz-Izmail line.

"All of our actions are aimed at achieving one goal of providing as many opportunities as possible for Ukrainian exporters," Kubrakov said.