Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Serhii Derkach took part in high-level events in Brussels (Belgium) during the week of Connecting Europe Days 2024, which focuses on the development of transport and logistics routes in Europe.

This was reported by the CFTS portal, citing the Ukrainian government portal.

"The integration of Ukraine into the European Union is taking place, in particular, through the development of Ukrainian routes that are part of the TEN-T network. We are working on the next step: including routes leading to the Danube in the transport network. This is extremely important given the development of the Danube cluster and the need to increase logistics capacities," he said.

According to the deputy minister, Ukraine also has access to some of the European Union's instruments for financing transportation projects on an equal footing with the other countries included in the TEN-T network.

"I drew the attention of my counterparts to the importance of extending the agreement on the liberalization of freight transport between Ukraine and the EU. The position of the European Commission is that the 'visa-free transport regime' should be extended. We appreciate this. It is important that the permit-free movement of trucks is also about integrating the Ukrainian market into the EU and the European market into ours," Derkach said.

As the CFTS portal reported, on December 22 Ukraine and the European Union signed a "High-Level Understanding" confirming that the modified indicative maps of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) - roads and railways - are acceptable to both parties. The purpose of the modification of the indicative maps of the TEN-T was to include in the TEN-T network new routes leading to the borders of EU member states, as well as to the Republic of Moldova.

The inclusion of routes in the TEN-T maps will provide access to EU financial instruments for implementing infrastructure projects in the relevant areas, in particular under the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant program, which will be key to improving transport links with the European Union by including Ukraine in the trans-European networks.

In addition, Ukraine and the European Union signed an agreement on Ukraine's participation in the Connecting Europe Facility in Lviv on June 6, 2023, which will allow Ukraine to receive EU funding for the development of transport arteries and support for sustainable trans-European networks in the areas of transport, energy, and digital services.