2 YEARS OF EU SOLIDARITY LANES
May 2024 marks the two-year anniversary of the launch of the Solidarity Lanes to help improve the EU–Ukraine–Moldova transport routes in response to Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Initially established to bypass the blockade of agricultural exports in the Black Sea ports, today the Solidarity Lanes cover trade across all sectors.
The Solidarity Lanes use all modes of transport available (road, rail and inland waterways) through the Danube Region, Poland, the Baltics and the Adriatic region to ensure trade is maintained with Ukraine and Moldova. To this date, the Solidarity Lanes have helped Ukraine export over 136 million tonnes of goods – of which 76 million tonnes of agricultural products – representing in total around €50 billion for Ukrainian exports. Ukraine was also able to import more than 52 million tonnes of essential goods such as fuels, vehicles, fertilisers of humanitarian assistance.
The management of the Solidarity Lanes have help improving the efficiency of border-crossings and removing administrative and infrastructure bottlenecks, with traffic management, border procedures, and investments in infrastructure and logistics equipment. Overall, over €2 billion has been mobilised by the European Commission and other international financial institutions, notably via the Connecting Europe Facility to fund border needs and further integrate Ukraine’s and Moldova’s transport systems into the EU’s TEN-T network.
Source: European Commission