Ukraine and Romania plan to work together to improve the transit capacity via road, rail and water in order to hike exports of Ukrainian grain via Romania. 

At a bilateral meeting in Bucharest on August 18, the prime ministers of the two countries said they aimed to export 60% of Ukraine’s grain to international markets via Romania. 

This followed Russia’s termination of a vital wartime maritime accord that previously allowed Ukraine to ship grain out via the Black Sea. 

Ukraine's economy heavily relies on agriculture, while as a major exporter of wheat, barley and sunflower, it is a crucial contributor to global food security. 

At the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced the intention to step up Romania’s role as a transit state. 

"We hope that more than 60% of the total volume of grain exports from Ukraine will transit through Romania," Ciolacu said, according to a government statement. 

“We set an ambitious target together – doubling the volume of Ukrainian grain transit through Romania in the next period, from 2mn tonnes per month now, to 4mn tonnes per month,” the Romanian prime minister added. 

Ciolacu and Shmyhal also discussed the enhancement of transportation infrastructure encompassing rivers, railways, roads and sea routes, including border entry points, a crucial step if the increase in exports via Romania are to be achieved. 

“[W]e will focus our efforts on the development of already existing capacities and corridors — primarily the Sulina Canal and the Constanta Port,” said Ciolacu. 

“We … reviewed the projects we are working on to increase traffic — maritime, fluvial, rail, road — as well as at border crossing points,” he added. 

Romania has already invested into expanding its transit capacity, resulting in an increase of 500% in transit traffic at Constanta Port, the biggest port in the country. Another project involved repairing a railway line from the Moldovan port of Giurgiulesti to the Romanian port of Galati on the Danube, after which freight trains coming from Ukraine through Moldova did not have to be reloaded at the border between Moldova and Romania.

During the August 18 meeting the two premiers signed an agreement on the opening of a new border crossing point at Sighetu Marmatiei-Bila Tserkva. It is due to be in operation 24 hours a day. 

Shmyhal thanked Romania for its support for Ukraine since the Russian invasion. 

“Today, the governments of Romania and Ukraine signed a declaration to ensure the transit of Ukrainian goods. We discussed improving the transport infrastructure destroyed by Russia. We will develop border infrastructure, roads, railways, expand border crossing points and build new ones,” said Shmyhal. 

“We will simplify border control, the border crossing point and, where possible, we will have a common control to simplify the transit of goods. We will facilitate the transport of Ukrainian production to Romanian Ukrainian ports. We will strengthen the collaboration in the Danube region, by using the current port infrastructure, as well as by investing in the development of this infrastructure. 

“Currently, Romania ranks third for Ukraine in terms of facilitating transit from Ukraine. It is a solid foundation for the development of common potential,” Shmyhal concluded. 

Following Russia's withdrawal from the grain agreement, there has been a notable escalation in its actions against Ukraine's port infrastructure along the Black Sea and the key facilities used by Kyiv to export grain via the Danube river.

On August 16, the governor of the Odesa region said Russian drones had caused damage to grain-related structures at a river port situated near the border with Romania.

The potential for a Russian assault on cargo ships within the Black Sea has become more pronounced in light of Moscow's report about firing cautionary shots from a naval vessel at a cargo ship en route to Izmail just last week.

Meanwhile, a provisional pathway through the Black Sea has been established in response to a plea from Ukraine to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).