Experts from the European Commission will visit Romania this Friday and Saturday to strengthen the capacity of the Danube route with a view to improving the flow of goods to and from Ukraine along the solidarity corridors.
The information was released in Brussels by the office of the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, showing that “a team of experts from the European Commission will visit Romania on 1 and 2 September to discuss how the capacity of the European Union can be strengthened.” the Danube Corridor”.
Romania, a member of the European Union (EU) and NATO, has been helping Ukraine sell grain since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
The Danube, which originates in Germany and flows into the Black Sea, is an important trade route for several European countries, including Ukraine and Romania.
“The European Commission has set up a joint coordination platform for Ukrainian exports to work closely with countries such as Romania, Moldova and Ukraine to improve the transit and flow of goods to and from Ukraine along the solidarity corridors,” the community guardianship said. an information note.
“The platform is working well on practical solutions to remove bottlenecks and speed up traffic so that Ukraine can export grain through the EU as an alternative to Black Sea ports, after Russia abandoned the Black Sea grain initiative and shipping in the Black Sea. Sea,” he added.
It falls within the scope of the activities of this platform that the visit takes place, which focuses on the Romanian port cities of Konstanz and Galatz.
“The aim of the visit is to demonstrate the EU’s support for Romania, while acknowledging the continued efforts of the authorities and stakeholders in this complex undertaking” of the port facilities on the Danube, next to the Port of Konstanz and the Sulina channel, added the statement.
This information was released on the day European Council President Charles Michel received Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu in Brussels, on which occasion the European official hailed “efforts to double Ukrainian grain exports via the Danube.” according to a publication on the social network X (formerly known as Twitter).
On Thursday, the European Commission admitted it had extended the agreement reached last April with five EU member states, including Romania, until December to guarantee the transit of Ukrainian grains.
In May 2022, the EU suspended customs duties on all products imported from Ukraine for a year and made efforts to allow the export of its ‘stocks’ of grain following the closure of Black Sea routes, following the invasion of the country by Russia in February 2022.
Countries neighboring the EU have seen a significant increase in supplies of maize, wheat or sunflowers from Ukraine, saturating stocks and lowering local prices.
Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria therefore banned the import of grains and other agricultural products from Ukraine in mid-April. They said they wanted to protect their farmers and confronted the European Commission, which is responsible for EU trade policy.
At the time, the Community administration concluded an agreement in principle with these four countries, as well as with Romania.
Source: DN
