On Friday, December 22, in Kyiv, the Foreign Ministers of Poland and Ukraine, Radoslaw Sikorski and Dmytro Kuleba, announced that they would "launch a solution" to unblock the common border, where a protest by Polish carriers has been going on since November 6.
"There are always issues between neighbors that need to be resolved: both those related to history and those related to current affairs. That is why I brought the Polish deputy ministers of transport and agriculture with me. We need to restore conditions for fair competition so that trade and transportation benefit everyone. And I think that what we have said to each other can lead to solutions," – Sikorsky said at a joint conference with Dmytro Kuleba.
Later, at another press conference, the Polish Deputy Minister of Infrastructure expressed hope that the issue of truckers' protests on the border with Ukraine would be resolved by the end of the year.
Earlier, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy said that during the talks with Sikorski, the issue of the border blockade was discussed.
"We started with the fact that we need to resolve problematic issues in our mutual relations. There is a willingness to resolve these issues on both sides – in Ukraine and Poland. We need to sit down and talk specifically to find balanced, legally legitimate solutions," the Ukrainian minister said.
"This primarily concerns the blocking of the Ukrainian-Polish border by Polish carriers and the issue of exporting Ukrainian food to Poland. These are painful issues, we understand that, but decisions must be made as soon as possible. The first step to be taken is to unblock the border. The situation when the shadow of a blocked border hangs over Ukrainian-Polish friendly relations is unacceptable and harmful," Kuleba emphasized.
As a reminder, Polish carriers have been on strike at several checkpoints on the border with Ukraine since early November. They demand that the EU cancel the "transport visa-free regime" with Ukraine.
Last week, the protesters resumed blocking the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing point.