Ukraine, Poland agree on joint customs control to ease movement of people, goods

23/5/2022 11:38

        Ukraine and Poland agreed on Sunday to establish a joint border customs control and work on a shared railway company to ease the movement of people and increase Ukraine's export potential.
        
        Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Polish President Andrzej Duda touted the increased cooperation between the countries during a meeting in Kyiv on Sunday, with Duda offering Warsaw's backing for the embattled neighbour.
        
        "The Polish-Ukrainian border should unite not divide," Duda told lawmakers as he became the first foreign leader to give a speech in person to the Ukrainian parliament since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.
        
        Zelenskiy called the joint border customs control a "revolutionary" move.
        
        "This will significantly speed up border procedures," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, after Duda's visit.
        
        Most Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war, have crossed to the European Union through border points in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Poland has granted the right to live and work and claim social security payments to over 3 million Ukrainians.