The European Commission on Friday announced an additional €300 million to support the trade corridors initiative for agri-food goods from Ukraine in the context of the war, as part of the overall EU initiative that hopes to mobilize €1 billion.
Specifically, Brussels has announced 300 million in grants to help in the short and medium term to reduce waiting times and improve movement through border crossings and their access routes. Funds will also be used to help develop infrastructure to improve the transport capacity of the so-called ‘solidarity corridors’, the project devised by Brussels to make customs crossings more flexible for goods from Ukraine.
These funds are in addition to other European initiatives that together raise investments to 1 billion. In this sense, the European Investment Bank plans to invest up to 300 million between now and the end of the year to meet the objectives of the ‘solidarity corridors’.
For its part, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has committed a further 300 million for trade corridors, plus 100 million from the World Bank to rebuild war-damaged infrastructure.
According to the European Executive’s calculations, the trade corridors promoted by Brussels have enabled 61% of Ukrainian grain exports to be exported by August. In total, 14 million tons of grain were exported, more than half through the European initiative ‘solidarity corridors’, while the remaining 39% was channeled through the Black Sea thanks to the agreements reached at UN level to unblock Ukrainian ports.
