Niem announced the approval of the agreement on the “transport visa-free” with the EU/Collage 24 Channel
On June 13, the Government of Ukraine agreed on the final version of the Agreement on the Liberalization of Road Transport with the delegation of the European Commission. It is expected that the document will be signed by the end of this month.
Ukrainian carriers have been waiting for about five years for the so-called “transport visa-free” with the EU, which will implement this agreement. This was announced by Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Mustafa Nayem on his Facebook page.
Why is this important
Mustafa Nayem said that over the past five years, the European Union has become the main partner of Ukraine in the field of trade. Thus, the share of trade with the EU countries in 2021 amounted to more than 41% of the total indicator, and the volume of freight transport by road increased by almost 42%.
At the same time, further growth was limited by lack of permissionson international transportation, the number of which in certain areas either remained at the same level or significantly decreased. Such a permitting system created an artificial barrier to free trade and limited not only bilateral trade, but transit of Ukrainian goods through the EU countries.
At the same time, due to the full-scale invasion of Russia and the blocking of Ukrainian ports, the volume Trade turnover with the EU specifically by road transport has increased several times at once over the past three months. One fuel by road was imported 15 times morethan before February 24, 2022.
What will the signing of the agreement change
Mustafa Nayem explained that the actual signing of the Agreement on the liberalization of road transport with the European Commission will have the same significance for Ukrainian carriers as visa abolition with the EU.
No permit system could have sustained such a dramatic increase in truckloads, and before that there was a great risk of shutting down exports by road already in September-October of this year.
Now, after the signing of the so-called “transport visa-free regime”, the problem of lack of permits for international transport of goods by road once and for all will be resolved. By the way, Mustafa Nayem thanked Polish colleagues, in particular, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland, its head Andrzej Adamczuk and Polish carriers for Ukraine's support in concluding this agreement with the EU.
