The Via Carpathia and Rail2Sea initiatives should be rethought to include the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, says Moldova’s Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu.
The statements were made the other day at the 5th edition of the Three Seas Initiative Business Forum.
“Moldova has no other way out than towards Romania and the European Union. And from now on I hope that this Initiative (Three Seas Initiative – ed.), when proposing and discussing new projects, will necessarily take into account the connection of Moldova and Ukraine to these initiatives. The Minister (Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Sorin Grindeanu – editor’s note) mentioned Romania’s Rail2Sea and Via Carpathia initiatives. These two initiatives need to be rethought in such a way that Moldova and Ukraine also appear on the map. By rail from Pascani we can come to Iasi, to Ungheni, to Chisinau and we can reach Odessa,” he said.
“Through these initiatives we can make sure that we can detach once and for all and connect once and for all with the European Union through Romania. In Chisinau we are determined this time to go all the way, because politically there have been all kinds of attempts by forces determined to destabilise the situation, but now is the time to go all the way to break Moldova from its Soviet and pro-Russian past. I believe that integration into the European Union has already been achieved largely at the legislative level. There will certainly be ongoing work in this regard. But the ring that is definitely missing at this stage is the connection of transport infrastructure and not only, including digital, energy, that’s what this initiative is about,” Andrei Spînu said.
Rail2Sea is a project started in 2018 with the participation of four countries – Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, and involves the creation of rail links between Gdansk Poland and Constanta Romania. On the territory of Romania it has three branches, namely: Bihor – Cluj Napoca – Câmpia Turzii – Teius – Coslariu – Brasov – Predeal – Ploiesti – Bucharest – Fetești – Constanta, Arad – Simeria – Coslariu – Sighisoara – Brasov – Predeal – Ploiesti – Bucharest – Fetești – Constanța and Valea lui Mihai – Oradea – Cluj Napoca – Dej – Beclean – Ilva Mică – Vatra Dornei – Câmpulung Moldovenesc – Gura Humorului – Suceava – Pașcani – Bacău – Focșani – Buzău – Fetești – Constanța.
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