As part of its European integration obligations under the Espoo Convention, Ukraine has closed a 20-year dispute with Romania over the implementation of its requirements during the construction of the Danube-Black Sea Canal on the sidelines of the Ninth Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets said.
“We have done our homework and come a long way in bringing the project in line with the requirements of the Convention. After all, Ukraine cares about good neighborly relations and compliance with international law. We are willing and able to find common ground and correct the mistakes of the past,” he wrote on Facebook from the meeting in Geneva.
Strelets thanked Romanian Minister of Environment, Water and Forestry Mircea Fechet for supporting this historic decision and Moldovan Minister of Environment Iordanca Iordanov for his professional and diplomatic chairmanship of the meeting of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention.
The Ukrainian minister added that the Ukrainian delegation in Geneva also managed to achieve two more victories, including the refusal to elect a representative of Belarus to the working bodies of the Espoo Convention, which was supported by 34 countries.
“At the 43rd session of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, Moscow was deprived of the status of host of the Meteorological Center “Vostok” of the EMEP program. This was voted for by 33 countries out of 35 member states. The international environmental research center will now be based at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia. We hope that it will soon work in the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center!” – Mr. Strelets also wrote.
The Espoo Convention is an international agreement initiated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, which entered into force in 1997 and is named after the Finnish city of Espoo (or Espoo), where it was signed in 1991. According to the document, the procedure for assessing the environmental impact of potentially hazardous projects should be carried out not only within the state, but also in neighboring countries that may be affected by the impact of these facilities.
As reported, in August 2004, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma opened the first part of the canal to traffic. At the same time, on September 1, the European Commission protested to Ukraine over the continuation of the construction of the canal in the Danube Delta, which is under UNESCO protection. The European Commission called on Kyiv to stop construction until an assessment of the impact that the canal could have on the environment in the river delta is conducted. In addition, Romania said it would challenge the construction of the canal.
According to the decision of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, in June 2005, work on deepening the Danube-Black Sea Canal through the Bystryi Estuary was suspended to allow for an expert assessment. The examination by the commission of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Ukraine found that the canal did not cause any harm to the environment.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry emphasized that Ukraine proceeds from the premise that the resumption of navigation in the lower Danube is a sovereign right of the state and is aimed at restoring the situation that historically existed in this region before 1994.
At the time, the Ukrainian side claimed that its position was confirmed by international experts during a visit to the actual site of the work in the Danube Delta. Thus, since the beginning of the restoration work, representatives of the Ramsar, Berne, Aarhus, Espoo, International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River, European Commission, Council of Europe, and World Wildlife Fund have visited the lower Danube. The mission’s recommendations contained three main requirements for Ukraine: not to start work on the second stage of the project until the environmental impact assessment of the second stage is completed; to hold public hearings on the environmental impact of the project; and to conduct systematic environmental monitoring during the project, which should involve international experts and representatives of Romania. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine has fulfilled all three requirements.
However, the dispute continued, and Ukraine also put forward counterclaims to Romania under the Espoo Convention regarding its projects in the Danube Delta.
The Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine (Ministry of Reconstruction) has agreed on a number of issues to increase Ukraine’s export opportunities during its third meeting in Romania, including an agreement on night navigation on the Sulina Canal, said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction of Ukraine, Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure.
“We are returning with a decision on night navigation on the Sulina Canal. It has already started working. We are waiting for our Romanian colleagues to provide the necessary number of pilots. In this case, we will reach 4 million tons of export capacity per month,” Kubrakov wrote on Facebook.
According to the deputy prime minister, joint work is also underway to increase the capacity of rail and road checkpoints in a quadripartite format: Romania – the United States – the European Commission – Ukraine with the participation of Moldova. The focus is on two key issues: the approval of a pilot project at the Krasnoilsk-Vicovu de Sus checkpoint for trucks, as well as a “green corridor” between Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania through the Reni Giurgiulesti – Galati checkpoints.
Kubrakov clarified that the repair work at the Reni checkpoint, which began in November to create conditions for joint control with Moldova, will be completed in the first quarter of 2024.
The Ukrainian side called on Romanian colleagues to increase the number of phytosanitary and veterinary control specialists at the border.
The fast and rhythmic operation of export routes remains a strategic direction of work, Kubrakov emphasized.
Over 11 months of operation, the total volume of transshipment through Ukrainian Danube ports amounted to almost 30 million tons.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has informed President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy about talks with representatives of Bulgaria and Romania.
“This area of cross-border cooperation is obviously growing now. I thank our partners. This is the work of the sea corridor, the Danube export cluster, and the trade turnover between our countries in general,” Zelensky said in a video message on Monday.
“With Romania alone, we see the potential for growth to 4 million tons of trade by the end of this year. This is very powerful and supports not only our state, not only jobs in Ukraine, but also in partner countries,” the president said.
Zelenskyy is confident that “we will add Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and the entire European Union to our cooperation.”
Romania will double the capacity of grain transit from Ukraine by the end of 2023, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said following his visit to Ukraine, actmedia Romanian News Agency reported.
“Together with the government of Ukraine, we managed to find a jointly agreed formula to facilitate grain transit and protect the Romanian market and the interests of domestic farmers. In addition, at a joint meeting of our governments on October 18, we reaffirmed our commitment to double our transit capacity from 2 million tons per month to 4 million tons by the end of the year. And we will do this by continuing to invest in the infrastructure of the port of Constanta, the Danube ports, as well as in roads and railways”, Ciolacu said.
At the same time, he once again assured that grain exports from Ukraine to Romania will be carried out taking into account the interests of Romanian farmers.
The publication reminded that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, almost 30 million tons of Ukrainian grain have transited through Romania.
Greek Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras has initiated the launch of a railway connection between Greece, Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania to connect with Ukraine, Noi.md reports.
According to the report, the Greek minister proposed to launch the train during a summit in Varna (Bulgaria) on October 9 to diversify trade ties between Mediterranean ports and Ukraine.
The Greek government proposes that trains should run to the Greek ports of Alexandroupolis and Thessaloniki from the ports of Ruse in Bulgaria and Constanta in Romania, and then connections could be established with Moldova and Ukraine. This project can become an alternative option in trade relations between the two countries, strengthening transport links and international freight transportation, Greece believes.
The Greek Minister of Transport sent a letter of intent to European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean, Bulgarian Minister of Finance Assen Vasilev, Bulgarian Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov, and Romanian Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Sorin Grindian.
As reported, the European Union is exploring alternative routes for Ukrainian grain through Italy and Greece.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will pay an official visit to Romania next week, Digi24 TV channel reported on Friday, citing its own sources.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and other officials of the country.
It is reported that this will be the first visit of the Ukrainian president to Romania since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The possibility of such a visit was previously announced by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on the same TV channel.
Iohannis and Zelenskyy already met on Thursday in Granada, Spain, at the summit of the European Political Community.
Earlier, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also announced his visit to Ukraine. The prime minister and some government ministers will go to Kyiv for talks with representatives of the Ukrainian government to establish as many points of cooperation as possible. These include security, energy, agriculture, and many other issues that need to be addressed by the two countries.
