Ukraine's and Poland's infrastructure ministers meet for first time to discuss border blockade
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, and Dariusz Klimczak, the newly-appointed Minister of Infrastructure of Poland, have held their first meeting in Warsaw.
Source: Oleksandr Kubrakov on Facebook, as reported by European Pravda.
The key issue in the conversation was the border blockade.
"We presented key figures and analytical data of freight transportation by Ukrainian and Polish hauliers, which show that the problems that the protesters are talking about do not actually exist.
The arguments and position of the Polish side were discussed. It is essential to come to a common understanding of figures and data regarding transportation and the market share occupied by our and Polish hauliers," Kubrakov said.
He argued that in the conditions of the blockade of the ports, Ukraine depends more than ever on road transportation, and both the imports, which are critically important for Ukraine, and export logistics depend on this.
"We raised the issue of creating a separate electronic queue for empty lorries on the Yahodyn-Dorohusk route. We proposed it earlier – we did it. From Monday, registration in a separate queue began, but it is obviously impossible to see the impact of this decision because the border is completely blocked (only 3 lorries left Yahodyn in a day!).
For our part, we also emphasised the period of stay for lorries on foreign registration. Currently, it is 60 days instead of 20," the minister said.
He added that a new meeting with representatives of the Polish government should be held this week in Kyiv and that they "plan to come to a common position".
Background:
- The Polish hauliers’ blockade has been going on since 6 November, its key demand being the reintroduction of a permit system for Ukrainian hauliers.
- On Monday, 18 December, the hauliers resumed their blockade of the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint after the local authorities banned the protest last week.
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