Ukraine is looking for alternative ways of delivering commodities to Central Asia / Photo from UNIAN
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announces that a freight train from Ukraine heading for Central Asian countries via Georgia and Azerbaijan is to depart on Friday, which will allow transportation of Ukrainian commodities bypassing Russian territory.
"The train is to depart on Friday. Our task is to make use of this train as much as possible," he said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
The prime minister also informed that Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry representatives were visiting Baku, Azerbaijan, at that moment to finalize an alternative route for Ukrainian goods and calculate the so-called through fare for freight transportation.
"This route will enable our economy to find an alternative way of delivering goods onto markets where Ukraine has traditionally been present but where it is very difficult to deliver commodities now due to Russia's embargo," the prime minister said.
According to Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky, the train will leave the city of Ilichivsk in Odesa region.
"And it's not simply an alternative way for Ukrainian goods. It's a new route between Asia and Western Europe," the minister said.
In turn, Yatsenyuk noted he had held necessary negotiations with the heads of government in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
"Our task is to maximize this train's loading, which will allow us to reduce the cost of Ukrainian goods. I'd like to ask to continue work on that alternative way after all respective agreements have been signed," Yatsenyuk said.
The launch of the alternative route was earlier announced by the Infrastructure Ministry. The route was developed in early January following Russia's decision to ban the transit of Ukrainian goods through Russian territory as of January 4.
The Economic Development Ministry informed that more than 40 Ukrainian exporters had reported problems with transit shipments. At the same time, most of Ukrainian producers, which have previously shipped goods through Russian territory, have already applied for transit permits through Belarus after Russia imposed the restrictions. Eight border crossing points for motor transport and two border crossing points for transit shipments are now in operation between Ukraine and Belarus.
As reported earlier, Russia imposed a ban on transit shipments of Ukrainian goods as part of its policy to protect the Russian market. The measure was adopted in response to the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement introducing a free trade area between Ukraine and the European Union. The economic provisions of the agreement entered into force on January 1, 2016.