EC experts are looking solutions to increase the transit of Ukrainian grain

A team of experts from the European Commission is in our country today and tomorrow to discuss increasing the transport capacity of Ukrainian goods on the Danube to the port of Constanţa. The European Commission has established a joint coordination platform on exports from Ukraine to work closely with countries including Romania, Moldova and Ukraine to improve the transit and flow of goods to and from Ukraine along the solidarity corridors.

The platform is working well on practical solutions to remove bottlenecks and speed up traffic to allow Ukraine to export grain via the EU as an alternative to Black Sea ports after Russia left the Black Sea Grain Export Initiative and threatens shipping on the Black Sea.

As part of the platform's activity, a team of experts from the European Commission led by Michael Hager, the chief of staff of the executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis, is currently in Constanţa and Galaţi, to check the two ports, as well as the Sulina canal. The program includes visits to port facilities and meetings with relevant stakeholders, including authorities, operators, carriers and traders. Discussions will focus, among other things, on means of resolving bottlenecks, increasing handling capacity, improving transit and simplifying procedures and controls.

In Galati, the team of experts will visit the port and meet with representatives of the Lower Danube River Administration, the Galati port authorities and the pilots. In Constanţa, the team of experts will visit the port of Constanţa and meet with representatives of the Romanian Government, the Constanţa port authority and the customs authority. Also, the delegation will meet with representatives of operators, transporters and grain traders from the port of Constanţa.

President Klaus Iohannis stated at the beginning of this week, at the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy, that over 22.5 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products were transited through our country.

Unlike other states in the region, Romania continues to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grains, including through the new commercial transport route aimed at the navigation of commercial vessels through the territorial waters of our country, up to the port of Constanţa, where grain from the neighboring country is transferred to vessels of greater capacity than those that can navigate the Sulina and Chilia arms or the Danube-Black Sea Canal.

We remind you that Poland and Slovakia have declared that they will allow the transit of Ukrainian grain on their territory only if the western states present firm contracts concluded with Ukrainian companies. Transit will be approved only for the quantities of grain entered in the respective contracts, in order not to disrupt the internal market.