Today the Hungarian-Ukrainian Intergovernmental Joint Committee for Cross-Border Cooperation held its sixth meeting in Börvinges (Barvinok), Ukraine, with the primary goal of developing and fostering cross-border, local and regional cooperation and partnership. The Hungarian delegation attending the event was lead by Erika Szabó, Secretary of State for Regional Public Administration at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, while the Ukrainian delegation was headed by Anatoliy Maksyuta, Deputy Minister for the Economy.

The joint committee was re-established in 2011 after an intermission of three years, and this was its third session since then, this time organised by the Ukrainian party. Relations with the Ukraine are important for the Hungarian government, which is clearly reflected in the fact that the Hungarian-Ukrainian Joint Commission for the Economy held a successful and effective session on 16-17 December, only a few days before the meeting of the Cross-Border Joint Committee, in Budapest.

The meeting was held in the village of Börvinges (Barvinok), only a few kilometres from Ungvár (Uzhgorod), and the parties devoted particular attention to developing new border-crossing stations between the two countries, and to options for creating new crossing points. Both parties expressed the importance of establishing new border-crossing points, along with simplifying and accelerating border-crossing. The participants agreed that the possibility to develop border-crossing points must also continue to be a priority objective for the Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine ENI Cross-Border Cooperation Programme in the period between 2014-2020.

The negotiating parties examined options for applying the European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) - an instrument in the Acquis Communautaire - between Hungary and the Ukraine, stressing that the EGTC is a tool affording the opportunity for deepening development cooperation. Hungary offered its help and support by way of sharing its widespread experience.

The parties confirmed their intention to tighten their cooperation in the field of flood protection on the Tisza River in the scope of the Danube Strategy and also to continue work in the implementation phase of the joint flood protection development programme. Building upon previous good practices, the Joint Committee expressed support for continuing cooperation at expert level in the interest of financing and implementing this programme. Creating a Hungarian-Ukrainian joint industrial park as an option was also discussed, and the parties will investigate in detail its implementation criteria at a later stage.

The Joint Committee’s session was concluded by signing the minutes. The next meeting will be held in Hungary in 2014.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)