A memorandum of understanding was signed between the infrastructure ministry and Deutsche Bahn / Photo from UNIAN
Honcharuk says this is an ecosystemic solution, aimed to show that Ukraine is unprecedentedly open.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has said the government intends to transfer management of the Ukrainian national railways operator PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia for 10 years to Germany's Deutsche Bahn.
"Yesterday, a Memorandum was signed with Deutsche Bahn. Yes, we want to give the railway to the Germans to manage it for 10 years. This very important decision is not only about the fate of the infrastructure unit, we believe. This is an ecosystemic solution, aimed to show that Ukraine is unprecedentedly open," Honcharuk said during a Ukrainian breakfast at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Read alsoUkraine signs memorandum with Deutsche Bahn
According to Honcharuk, official documents have yet to be signed, but a political decision on this issue has already been made.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry and Germany's largest railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, signed a memorandum of understanding, which foresees the provision of services to reform the state-owned company Ukrzaliznytsia's enterprise management mechanisms.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 2, 2019, ordered the Ukrainian government to draw up by the end of 2019 a plan for restructuring Ukrzaliznytsia to make it more efficient and transparent. He put Prime Minister Honcharuk and Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii in charge of the project.
UNIAN memo. Ukrzaliznytsia is a joint-stock company, wholly owned by the state. The company is on the list of state-run enterprises that are not subject to privatization. It accounts for 82% of freight transportation and about 50% of passenger traffic by all modes of transport. In terms of freight traffic, the Ukrainian company ranks fourth on the Eurasian continent, after the railways of China, Russia and India.