As the Europeans move more and more, the EU policies are adjusted to major challenges, such as traffic congestion and environmental pollution, through the use of fossil fuels. The experts invited to IPN’s public debate “Transport in the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Ukraine: interconnection and European Integration” discussed how the transport of the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Ukraine should be interconnected and integrated into the European space.
Mircea Pascăluță, state secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, said that when we talk about interconnection in the transport sector, we refer to the mobility and circuit of goods between the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Ukraine. The intergovernmental platform for discussions between these countries provides an opportunity to emphasize the importance of interconnection and the efforts that each state has made to ensure this interconnection. The ministries of Ukraine and Romania are contacted weekly in order to continue proper cooperation in everything that is related to the interconnection in transport networks. This cooperation brings concrete results and helps a lot in the integration of the Republic of Moldova into the European Union.
The future plans were discussed at the last intergovernmental conference. Thus, Moldova, together with Romania, by 2030 should build 10 bridges to ensure this interconnection through concrete facts. With Ukraine, work is done to build the Cosăuți-Iampol bridge, which will also ensure interconnection between Ukraine and Romania through the Republic of Moldova. Mircea Păscăluță appreciated the good cooperation relations between Moldova and Ukraine in the railway sector, especially in connection with the reconstruction of the Basarabeasca – Berezino railway, which is now the most used railway line that ensures the transit of goods from Ukraine to the EU.
Sergei Tomșa, acting director general of the state-owned enterprise “Moldova’s Railways”, said that Moldova and Ukraine are interconnected on the railway segment. As for cooperation in the railway sector with Ukraine, there are two crossing points where joint customs control is carried out so that a train can enter Kuchurgan without stopping and transit the Republic of Moldova up to Giurgiulesti, with the transmission of goods to the EU or to Romania. On the other hand, there is a connection with the Romanian-European system because there is a European gauge at the Giurgiulesti station, which allows the Romanian trains to enter the station. The same situation is on the Ungheni segment.
Sergei Tomșa noted that without the interconnection of the railway system, it is difficult to say how Moldova can move better and faster towards the EU. At the same time, infrastructure is the main segment that shows how to move forward. As for the interconnection, work is now being done on the pre-feasibility study regarding the construction of the Chisinau-Ungheni European gauge and the electrification of these segments.
Corneliu Coteț, expert of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, believes that the integration of Moldova and Ukraine into the European transport systems not only ensures economic prosperity and free transit, but at least for Ukraine it also ensures very safe routes for freight exports. In his opinion, it is not possible to predict the developments related to the war, but a transit corridor can be provided for the partners.
As for the Republic of Moldova, the expert said that the interconnection of its transport systems can ensure new economic opportunities, new developments in logistics and production. The European partners and European companies that want to invest in the Republic of Moldova need a developed transport sector through which the products that are in their distribution chains can be imported and exported.
The public debate entitled “Transport in the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Ukraine: interconnection and European integration” was the sixteenth edition of the project “Double integration through cooperation and information. Continuity”, funded by the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova. The content of the debate does not represent the official position of the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova.
