Ukraine, Lithuania to cooperate on container transportation increase

Ukraine in cooperation with Lithuania will increase container transportation and plan to liberalize the conditions of bilateral and transit transportation.

"Increase in container transportation is one of the key priorities of cooperation with Lithuania," Vladyslav Kryklii said after a video meeting with Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania Marius Skuodis, the Ministry’s press service informs.

The parties discussed the prospects for Ukrainian-Lithuanian cooperation in the field of infrastructure and joint participation in international logistics projects, as well as attracting additional freight traffic flows.

The ministers stressed the importance of continuing joint work to attract additional freight traffic flows on the railways and to create favorable and competitive conditions for this. Among the positive examples, Kryklii cited running Viking combined transport train which connects the infrastructure facilities of the Baltic Sea region with a similar infrastructure of the Black Sea region. At the year-end 2020, the container transportation between Ukraine and Lithuania via this train increased by 21% compared to the pre-crisis 2019.

According to Kryklii, the current quota of permits for international road transportation meets the needs of Ukrainian carriers. At the same time, he welcomed the decision of both parties to work out a draft protocol amending the agreement between the governments of both countries on the liberalization of bilateral and transit transportation in the future.

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