On May 16, during the Quint multilateral meeting, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development (MIDR), Mircea Păscăluță, together with his counterparts – the State Secretary of the Romanian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Irinel Ionel Scrioșteanu, and the Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine, Serghei Derkach, announced that Giurgiulesti-Reni joint control point is now operational, after the reconstruction of the Reni border crossing point.

It will allow the control services of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine to collaborate in order to facilitate the transit of goods and passengers. The project is the result of the joint efforts between the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Romania and partners from the European Union (EU) and United States of America (USA), in the context of the Quint meetings.

The newly renovated border crossing point will streamline customs traffic for both trucks and buses, that will benefit from specially designed lanes for this exact purpose. Passengers will no longer be required to stop at the Moldovan checkpoint, as all of the control procedures will be carried out by the Ukrainian side. This will significantly reduce the waiting time at the border crossing.

State Secretary Mircea Păscăluță emphasized the importance of this moment during the Quint Meeting: “We marked an important moment for the connection between the three countries. Our commitment to support Ukraine in the process of rebuilding infrastructure remains strong. We want to allow transport to easily pass through the Republic of Moldova, from Ukraine to the EU and vice versa. We submitted a co-financing project regarding the access road to the border crossing point to the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). This road has now two lanes, and expanding it to four lanes will greatly facilitate transportation.”

Adina Vălean, Commissioner for Transport, said: “Since the establishment of the Solidarity Lanes in May 2022, the Danube corridor has been an excellent example of the close cooperation between Ukraine, Moldova and Romania – the largest share of goods exiting and entering Ukraine have used this corridor for the past two years, with logistics costs comparable to the Black Sea route. With our support, today’s inauguration of the enhanced border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova in Reni will further reduce the waiting times at the border, and thus increase the attractiveness of this route.”

Moreover, yesterday, the delegation led by the State Secretary Mircea Păscăluță also visited the Giurgiulesti-Galati border crossing point (BCP), where they discussed with the State Secretary Irinel Ionel Scrioșteanu and with the EU and the USA officials, about the possibility of establishing a coordinated checkpoint in Galati. In this regard, a common work agenda was established. By creating a coordinated control point at Giurgiulesti-Galati, in addition to the widening of the access road between the two BCPs will decrease the congestion levels of goods and passenger transport traffic at both border crossing points (Reni-Giurgiulesti and Giurgiulesti-Galati) by opening a fast corridor (green corridor) on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, continuing on the territory of Romania to the Galati and Constanta ports.