JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, the German national railway operator Deutsche Bahn AG and DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH (DB E&C) have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding strategic partnership for the development of Ukrzaliznytsia.
The document was signed in Kyiv on February 5 with the participation of Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk and member of the board for infrastructure at Deutsche Bahn AG Ronald Pofalla, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.
“We emphasized that within the framework of our cooperation, we will primarily focus on consulting… And we are confident that our cooperation will be successful,” Pofalla said when signing the document.
According to the text of the memorandum, “the parties agreed to study and develop a concept and a plan in order to provide DB E&C with the opportunity of providing the critical managerial and technical assistance to Ukrzaliznytsia (except for issues related to military transportation).”
The memo does not contain the final conditions and all issues on which agreement should be reached between the companies for the purpose of strategic cooperation.
Moreover, according to the document, neither party is liable for any direct, indirect or consequence losses (loss of profit, inability to use or loss of business opportunities).
The memorandum is concluded for a period of three years. The estimated period of strategic cooperation is up to ten years.
“At the first stage, we are talking about cooperation in the consultation field. But we hope that over time we will come to deeper forms of cooperation… I hope this will be the next step in building reliable cooperation between Ukrzaliznytsia and Deutsche Bahn,” Honcharuk said.
In turn, the representative of Deutsche Bahn said that the German company went through the path of privatization, which allowed it to become a successful carrier.
On the part of Ukrzaliznytsia, the memorandum was signed by board members Željko Marček and Remigiusz Paszkiewicz, on the part of Deutsche Bahn – Pofalla, on the part of DB E&C – Chairman Niko Warbanoff.
Commenting on the difference between the memorandums – signed in Davos and the current one, Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy said that today’s document implies more specific options for interaction between the companies.
