Romania has been an extraordinary partner and continues to work with the European Commission, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to further reduce the waiting time at the border, European Transport Commissioner Adina Valean said on Wednesday.
"Our special project coordinated by DG MOVE, Solidarity Lanes, is related to exports and imports of products, including agricultural ones, of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. From the very beginning, we considered the Republic of Moldova as an integral part of this project, because it is closed at the border by the conflict in Ukraine, and the only way to carry out its exports and imports is through the European Economic Area. Until the end of September, 30 million tons of goods, including agricultural ones, were transported on these corridors,'' Valean said in a meeting with a group of Romanian journalists.
According to Adina Valean, the Danube route, which involves Romania and the Republic of Moldova, contributed 50% in terms of grain transport, being the preferred route for Ukraine regarding grain transport.
The European Commissioner announced, on the same occasion, that two new border points will be opened for the railway, at Valea Viseului and Tereseva, near Sighetu Marmatiei.
"At the same time, the route organized by the United Nations on the Black Sea operated exclusively for grain and is currently in some uncertainty. But the two routes were always complementary, and what Solidarity Lanes was able to offer Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova was basically a way to carry out their exports and imports that would otherwise have been impossible," emphasized Adina Valean.
"Also, we worked on a common set of standards for transport infrastructure that would respond to dual use, civil and military. It covers absolutely all modes of transport, from standards regarding airport runways for take-off and landing, which may also meet military needs, to infrastructure in ports, railways, bridges, roads and so on. In this new context, we need to establish a set of investment priorities and this is the reason why we launched this action plan, through which we hope to identify what the priorities of the moment would be. The plan is more extensive, it also covers the cyber security part, which is handled by the European Commissioner Thierry Breton, and which represents, in the context of the military mobility action, a very important element related to the critical infrastructure," said Adina Valean.
A current priority at the European level is the identification of the priority corridors for military action, for the transport of equipment and troops, and also the identification on the map of the so-called supply hubs.
Next year, DG MOVE, together with the European External Action Service (EEAS), will do a study to identify all the priorities related to military mobility in the current context.
"We worked in cooperation with the EEAS and NATO, at the moment the European Commission has at its disposal a budget of 1.6 billion euros for transport infrastructure projects with use for military mobility. We allocated, in a call for projects, 339 million euros already to 20 or so projects. In these funds, Romania had several projects related to the renovation or improvement of the condition of five bridges, projects that were approved in full and which, taking into account the part of co-financing from Romania, have a value of 28 million euros," Valean added.
The next call for projects will take place in December, with 63 projects submitted for financing, with a total budget of 1 billion euros.AGERPRES
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