The US Ambassador to Bucharest, Kathleen Kavalec, on Friday told a press conference held in Galati that the United States is grateful to Romania for the support given to Ukraine, in the context of the war with Russia.
High representatives of the United States of America, the European Union, the Republic of Moldova and Romania discussed on Friday, in Galati, about alternative routes for transporting the grains from Ukraine.
The press conference on the topic of agricultural exports of Ukraine within the EU-Ukraine solidarity corridors was attended by the Romanian Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu, Jim O'Brien, who heads the US office that manages the sanctions regimes (U.S. Sanctions Coordinator), Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, Magda Kopczynska - Director General for Mobility and Transport with the EU, representatives of the European Commission and the Minister of Agriculture from the Republic of Moldova, Vladimir Bolea.
"The United States is grateful to Romania for hosting these important discussions and for everything done in support of Ukraine," emphasized Ambassador Kathleen Kavalec.
The Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu, has shown that Romania is ready to double the transit capacity of Ukrainian grains through Romania from 2 to up to at least 4 million tonnes every month. He showed that, in what concerns the use of Danube as a transport route, the Sulina Canal is the only viable waterway, therefore it is important to optimize the capacity precisely on this route.
"We want to increase the number of pilots to bring the ships to the Sulina Canal, and we will have the 60 pilots that we promised by the end of August. We also have the European project that will end sometime in the fall, probably in October, which will allow navigation on Sulina, 24 hours, 7 days a week. When the number of pilots will increase, automatically the ports of Galati and Braila will also be used, along with Reni and Ismail. Today I have proposed not only the two ports, but I also came up with this proposal in front of my Ukrainian colleagues to use all the ports, including those upstream from Galati and Braila up to Orsova, while using the railway network up to those ports south of the Danube, and using barges from there further towards the Black Sea, towards Constanta," said the Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu.
In his turn, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said that the agreement between Ukraine and Romania will bring benefits to both sides.
"I want to thank our partners for this fruitful meeting and for the support granted to the Ukrainian citizens in their fight against the Russian military aggression. It is impossible to replace Ukrainian grains. When Russia withdrew from the grain agreement, the price of grains immediately increased by more than 8%, as the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said. Ukrainians are interested in using the territorial waters of Romania, in particular the port of Constanta and the Sulina Canal, for the transport of grains, and I think there will be benefits for both sides," said Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.
The Minister of Agriculture from the Republic of Moldova, Vladimir Bolea, stated that his country will unconditionally support the transportation of Ukraine's grains through the network of solidarity corridors.
"The Republic of Moldova stood by the Ukrainian people. With a population of 2.5 million citizens, we hosted and were the second home for almost 750,000 refugees from Ukraine. In the second stage, the issue of solidarity corridors came into play of import and export of grains and in this way we reiterated the position of the Republic of Moldova of absolutely unconditional support for Ukraine in its economic export and transit processes to the ports of Constanta, Galati, which are located on the territory of Romania," stated Minister Vladimir Bolea.
The official of the European Commission, Magda Kopczynska, emphasized the importance of the Danube-Black Sea corridor for the transport of grains from Ukraine.
"The European Commission condemns the recent Russian attacks on the Ukrainian infrastructure in the Danube area, in the ports of Reni and Ismail, and regrets Russia's unilateral withdrawal from the Black Sea agreement, which endangers human lives and global food security. Today we are making an important step in strengthening our efforts to reduce the Russian impact and improve the functionality of the Ukrainian solidarity corridors. When it comes to grain products, which are so important for global food security, between May 22 and the end of July this year, about 60% of Ukraine's exports went through the solidarity corridors, and the rest with the help of the Black Sea agreement. When we look at the potential of the solidarity corridors, the Danube-Constanta route is the biggest asset, almost 60% of Ukraine's grain exports coming through this route," stated the Director for Water Transport from the General Directorate for Mobility and Transport, Magda Kopczynska.
The US official who heads the office that manages the sanctions regimes (U.S. Sanctions Coordinator), Jim O'Brien, emphasized that regardless of the Russian attacks that affected the infrastructure in Ukraine, the grains will still reach the global markets.
"What you saw this afternoon is solidarity in action. Russia attacked Ukraine, bringing war close to this peaceful region. Romania, Moldova and Ukraine said to meet in Romania and find a solution. Russia attacked supplies global food, the Black Sea agreement brought 32 million tons of grain to the global market, the solidarity aisles brought something more. This group of countries said 'let's sit down and find solutions and bring more grain.' from Ukraine will reach the whole world," Jim O'Brien emphasized.
High representatives of the United States of America, the European Union, the Republic of Moldova and Romania met, on Friday, in Galati, to discuss alternative routes for transporting grain from Ukraine, the announcement about this meeting and the discussion agenda being made, on Thursday, by the US Embassy in Bucharest.
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