Brussels, 09/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 9 October in Luxembourg on the eve of the Transport Council, transport ministers from the six Eastern Partnership countries met the European Commissioner for Transport, Siim Kallas and the Lithuanian Minister for Transport, Rimantas Sinkevicius, during an informal meeting.
The six ministers came from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and are expected to examine the progress accomplished in aligning their respective legislation on European rules on transport. On this subject, the Commissioner said that he was happy to observe that these partner countries have made progress, particularly with establishing a stable legal environment, accompanied by high social, environmental and safety standards, which were a “prerequisite” for forthcoming market integration.
The meeting is also expected to help work out what the next steps for enhancing cooperation with the EU in the transport field will be because, “after all, transport does not stop at borders”, explained the Commissioner. Sinkevicius said that a list of priority projects in the Regional Transport Network of the Eastern Partnership would be drawn up as, “funding guidelines”. As part of this roadmap, projects that were strictly appropriate to the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) would be prioritised, explained Kallas. He also pointed out that, “although resources were limited” the EU would contribute towards providing financial support to the Eastern Partnership in the transport field, together with loans from the European Investment Bank and the World Bank. (MD/transl.fl)