It was important for Ukraine to participate in Silk Road Forum in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 22 22-23, 2019. Georgia is a unique country having two free trade areas with the European Union and China. Moreover, it attracts investment both from the European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and from the Asian Development Bank and China ExImBank.
Ukraine and Georgia created favorable conditions for the development of the air connection between our countries: all restrictions on the number of the flights that are operated by the designated airlines of the two countries have been lifted. The increase in air passenger flow over the past five years indicates the development of tourism and business ties between our countries.
We strive for the transition to the electronic system for issuing and recording permits and in the future to liberalize the conditions of road transportation. Our goal is not only the development of the existing transport infrastructure, the increase in transit traffic but also the search for new logistics solutions.
It is important for us to continue our work on the creation of the competitive conditions for the development of the transportation with the usage of the existing infrastructure of the ports and ferry crossings of the Black Sea basin, the continuation of which is the combined transport train Viking.
Further development is crucial freight traffic in direct international ferry service in the Black Sea, liberalization of railway ferry services between the ports of Ukraine and Georgia. A priority project is the support of the container-feeder communication between the Black Sea ports of Poti/Batumi – Odessa – Constanta – Burgas Varna. The new opportunities in the future, taking into consideration of the desire of Ukraine and Belarus to develop inland waterways.
In October 2018, the European Commission approved TEN-T Investment Plan to ensure the development of transport infrastructure in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, which in turn will increase the transit potential to countries such as Bulgaria, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
We are interested in attracting investments in the development and modernization of the transport infrastructure of Ukraine:
– development of the seaport infrastructure of Ukraine;
– construction and modernization of roads in Ukraine;
– renovation rolling stock;
– development and construction of intermodal terminals;
– development of regional airports.
Our goal until the end of the year is to conduct pilot concessions of the seaports of Olbia and Kherson, and also we explore the possibility of implementing a similar project on the concession of the ferry complex in the port of Chоrnomorsk.
Ukraine supports the Silk Road initiative and the development of transportation in the Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Caspian Sea traffic. We value our cooperation in the multilateral projects, such as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM), the purpose of which is to provide intermodal services.
In order to implement the joint transport initiatives and projects, Ukraine actively cooperates in the field of transport within the framework of such international organizations: Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM and Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) TRACECA.
I am nominated for the post of Secretary-General of TRACECA in order to enhance the cooperation within the Silk Road Belt countries and implement joint infrastructure projects. The development of the transport corridor will largely depend on China’s plans to implement the One Belt One Road strategy for the New Silk Road – a transport route for the movement of goods from China to Europe, as potentially along the corridor ‘Europe – Caucasus – Asia’ significant part of the Sino-European freight traffic can go.
The main competitive disadvantage of the TRACECA corridor along the Trans- Siberian railway route is two sea freights on the Black and Caspian Seas. Therefore, the key issues that need to be addressed in order to increase the attractiveness of rail transportation this transport corridor are single rate and transportation by electronic invoice; coordination between railways and ferries in order to reduce rates.
The creation and expansion of the cargo base of the international transport corridor require efforts at the international, national, state and corporate levels to attract large cargo owners.
Ukrainian ambitions are aimed at harmonization of common approaches in terms of creating joint conditions and rules for the development of multimodal transport, which in turn will contribute to attracting additional traffic, and as a result, creating new jobs, increasing revenues to the countries’ budgets from cargo transit.
Viktor Dovhan is an adviser to the minister of infrastructure in Ukraine.
