Ukraine, Poland should create export corridor from Europe to Middle East – expert

Kyiv and Warsaw should jointly develop a major export corridor connecting Europe with the Middle East.

Bartlomiej Babuska, former head of Poland's Industrial Development Agency and Poland's representative on the Business Advisory Council operating within the Ukraine Donor Platform, said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"I believe Poland and Ukraine should be united by another economic interest: we must jointly rethink Europe's economic geography. Through our cooperation on Ukraine's reconstruction, we should create a major export corridor from Europe to the Middle East," Babuska said.

He noted that the Ukrainian market is highly important for Poland, with trade worth around $14 billion, making it the seventh-largest export destination for Polish goods.

"But let's look broader: if we build modern road and railway infrastructure to Odesa, including ports and possibly a Polish [port] near Odesa in the future, Ukraine and Poland will control a route that could reshape Europe's export geography. This is an opportunity of historic scale. And we must do everything to seize it, because both our countries have a huge interest in it," the Polish expert said.