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Romanian Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Friday in Galati that the major investment taking place in Romania, mostly with European funds, for the development of transport infrastructure are also important to the country's ties with the Moldova and Ukraine in the coming years, in the post-conflict era, when the reconstruction of Ukraine will also take place.
"From the perspective of the priorities that we as a country have declared, infrastructure investment in the Eastern parts of Romania are very important to us. And in this Galati-Braila area - if we are to do a calculation - I think that the most is invested in infrastructure as against other areas. I have just inaugurated the bridge that you all know, I refrain from saying that it is the bridge from Braila, being in Galati, so as not to upset anyone; we are talking about the expressway that will be finished next year between Galati and Braila, we are talking about the expressways to Focsani and to Buzau, we are talking about the A7, Autostrada Moldovei, Magistrala 500 of CFR. That shows the priorities we have in connecting Romania with Moldova and Ukraine in the coming years. That also means investment in the naval component. In the last year, we signed all the works from Ploiesti to Pascani and we are developing a northern route, the motorway to Siret, on the border with Ukraine, and to the East, to Ungheni, Chisinau. They are important for what the post-conflict period will mean, the reconstruction period that Ukraine will enter. We want that period to come as quickly as possible and for the war to end as quickly as possible and for Ukraine to enter this reconstruction area, for the infrastructure in Romania to be prepared for that," said Grindeanu.
He added that most of the large infrastructure projects in Romania are supported by European funds.
"As far as European programmes are concerned, the port of Constanta - just the railway component in the coming years - will reach almost 1 billion euros of investment. Funds will be allocated for the naval component, also European funds. All the investments and all the projects in Romania at this moment, major ones, have European funding. From this point of view, the European Union is with us, it also finances that 'Solidarity lanes' component; the project to increase the transit capacity on Sulina is about 18 million euros worth of European funds," added Grindeanu.
The Romanian official participated on Friday, in Galati, in a meeting with officials of the United States of America, the European Union, Moldova and Ukraine, that discussed alternative routes for shipping grain from Ukraine.
Also attending were Head of the US Office of Sanctions Coordination Jim O'Brien; Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov; Director General with the Directorate- General for Mobility and Transport Magda Kopczynska; officials of the European Commission and Moldova's Agriculture Minister Vladimir Bolea.
