The bilateral agreement on the use of the Slovak airspace by the international airport Uzhgorod will be in effect from June 5, said Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Heger.
“There are still some technical measures and procedures to be put in place and you simply cannot make shortcuts. It is about safety and established mechanisms in the air transportation, not about politics. I was informed that all the process will be finished in September,” Heger said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
The Slovak Republic has always been a reliable transit country for Russian gas to the West through Ukraine, and it is interested in maintaining this transit through Ukraine, said Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Heger.
“As for the Nord Stream 2 Project, it is not in the hands of Slovakia to decide. Slovakia has always been a reliable transit country for the Russian gas to the West through the territory of Ukraine and we are definitely interested in keeping this gas transit through Ukraine. We believe the transit contract between Russia and Ukraine will be fulfilled further on,” Heger said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Heger will visit Ukraine at the end of this month, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said following a meeting with the head of the Slovak government.
“Pleased to meet with Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger to discuss trade, investments, energy and infrastructure cooperation. Ukraine and Slovakia remain reliable partners and friends. Looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister in Ukraine in two weeks,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
The volume of electricity imports to the integrated power system (IPS) of Ukraine from Belarus since the beginning of the year amounted to 150 MWh, to the Burshtyn TPP Island from Slovakia it was 30 MWh, according to data on the website of the system operator NPC Ukrenergo as of Monday.
According to the NPC data, 133 MWh of electricity was exported to Hungary (93 MWh) and Romania (40 MWh).
According to the results of the daily auction on January 1, published on the NPC website, the interstate sections in the direction of Belarus-Ukraine were purchased by DE Trading LLC and Dniprostal-energo LLC – 1,200 MW (50 MW every hour) and 540 MW (60 MW in the first four hours and last five hours of the day), respectively.
The section in the direction of Slovakia-Ukraine was purchased by TAS Energy Country LLC (only 200 MW per day). The same company bought out 150 MW in the direction of Ukraine-Hungary.
Ukraine and the Slovak Republic have signed an intergovernmental agreement on the provision of aviation operational services by their Ukrainian supplier in a certain part of the Slovak airspace relative to Uzhgorod airport.
According to Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy, the document was signed by him and Minister of Transport and Construction of Slovakia Andrej Dolezal.
“The full operation of Uzhgorod airport will be restored. Just now, together with my Slovak colleague, Minister of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic Andrej Dolezal, we signed an appropriate bilateral intergovernmental agreement. Finally, after so many months of inactivity, we will connect Zakarpattia by air service with other regions and with abroad,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Thursday.
According to the press service of the Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine with reference to the head of the department, the signing of this agreement will also help strengthen mutual bilateral relations in the civil aviation sector between the countries and in terms of expanding the possibilities of international air transportation.
However, Krykliy expressed hope for the early completion of the coordination of technical issues related to the implementation of the agreement and the signing by the parties of the implementation protocols within a month.
The ministry said that the agreement was initialed by both countries during negotiations in Kyiv on December 18, 2019. The document takes into account the security and defense aspects arising from the membership of Slovakia in NATO, as well as from the fact that the Ukrainian-Slovak border is also the external border of the Alliance.
According to the ministry, the agreement was concluded for an indefinite period and comes into force from the date of receipt through diplomatic channels of the last written notification of the completion of the domestic procedures necessary for its entry into force.
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy and Minister of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic Andrej Doležal signed a memorandum of cooperation within the Silk Road Economic Belt.
The press service of the Infrastructure Ministry said on Thursday that the document will contribute to creating conditions for the further development of multimodal transport in transfer between Asia and the EU through Ukraine and Slovakia, as well as for increasing the number of container block trains that will be used for combined freight transport; putting into practice the implementation of the project on the creation of multimodal logistics centers that will handle cargo on the Silk Road route, which will make it possible to form an appropriate bilateral working group and create a basis for negotiations with the Chinese side; developing a common approach to organizing the movement of container trains running between Asia and the EU through Ukraine and Slovakia.
“Both Ukraine and Slovakia are extremely interested in developing their transit potential and improving the processes of organizing the delivery of goods in containers from the EU countries to China and vice versa. In early September, we held consultations with the Slovak side to intensify cooperation in the development of the Silk Road through the territory of Ukraine and Slovakia. Today we are fixing them with the relevant memorandum,” the press service said, citing Vladyslav Krykliy.
The ministry said that the memorandum has been drawn up for an indefinite period and will enter into force on Thursday, September 24.
In addition, according to the ministry, during a meeting with the Slovak side, the Minister of Infrastructure confirmed the readiness to intensify the work of the Ukrainian and Slovak sides on the development of logistics terminals in Chop, Mukacheve and Košice and proposed a joint search for financial resources for the implementation of the Creation of Multimodal Logistics Center Between Ukraine and Slovakia Based on the Existing Terminal in Chop project.
