Ukrainian, Polish Ministers meet over trucker border protest
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said Thursday that he had met with his newly appointed counterpart in Poland to discuss a cargo blockage on their shared border by Polish truckers, AFP reports.
The truckers have been blocking the border for over a month to demand the reintroduction of restrictions to enter the European Union for their Ukrainian competitors.
"We held the first meeting with the newly appointed minister of infrastructure of Poland Dariusz Klimczak in Warsaw," the Ukrainian ministry said in a statement.
It added in separate comments to AFP that the meeting had taken place one day earlier.
"We discussed several issues in the transport sector, but the main topic was the unblocking of the border," the statement added. Kubrakov said that the meeting had allowed for both parties to explain their positions and that the Ukrainian side had presented data that undermined Polish arguments.
"It is important to come to a common understanding of the figures and data on traffic and on market share held by our and Polish carriers," he said.
Ukraine relies heavily on road transport with EU member Poland for its exports and imports, particularly since the Russian invasion nearly two years ago, which has crimped Black Sea shipping.
