Andrzej Adamczyk made the declaration at a meeting with his counterparts from more than 20 countries in southeastern Poland on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The two-day conference, known as High-Level Dialogue for Ukraine, has been organised by the Polish infrastructure ministry and the International Transport Forum (ITF), officials said.
Entitled Connecting Ukraine with Europe and the World, the event brought together ministers responsible for transport from Europe, North America and Asia, representing Ukraine, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Norway, Britain and the United States, among other countries, the PAP news agency reported.
‘Our aim is to strengthen Ukraine’s transport links with the world’
Launching the conference in the southeastern Polish village of Babica on Wednesday, Adamczyk told reporters that the ministers would discuss “rebuilding and developing sustainable transport infrastructure and efficient supply chains” to and from Ukraine.
The Polish infrastructure minister said: “Our aim is to strengthen Ukraine’s transport links with Europe and the world and to rebuild them from the destruction of war.”
Via Carpathia
The meeting began in Babica, where work is under way on a section of the planned Via Carpathia transnational highway network, which is designed to connect Europe’s north and south, from Lithuania to Greece.
Adamczyk said: “It is here, through such investment projects, that the new face of Europe is being shaped.”
He added: “It’s a Europe of sustainable development, a Europe that is well connected and stands in solidarity.”
Adamczyk told reporters: “The construction of the Via Carpathia route is necessary to ensure the development of eastern Europe.”
He added: “A functional and efficient transport infrastructure is also a necessary condition of effective assistance to Ukraine, which is defending its independence.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, Serhiy Derkach, thanked Poland “for helping build the Via Carpathia and for expanding border crossings with Ukraine.”
He said that “with Ukraine’s ports closed, with our skies closed, the entire passenger and freight traffic is going by road.”
“Road transport is of critical importance” for Ukraine, Derkach added.
EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes
During the conference, ministers were also set to discuss the so-called EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes, alternative logistics routes established by the European bloc in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Solidarity Lanes are “essential corridors for Ukraine's agricultural exports, as well as the export and import of other goods,” according to officials.
Designed to boost global food security and help Ukraine’s economy, the Solidarity Lanes largely run through Poland, the PAP news agency reported.
Thursday is day 400 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, gov.pl, itf.oecd.org