Ukraine and Romania reached an agreement on the Danube-Black Sea channel

Ukraine and Romania settled a 20-year-old dispute regarding the arrangement of the Danube-Black Sea deep-sea waterway.

The dispute concerned Ukraine’s obligations under the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espo Convention), Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets said.

According to him, the dispute was finally resolved on the sidelines of the 9th meeting of the parties to the Espoo Convention in Geneva.

“We have done our homework and have come a long way to bring the project into compliance with the requirements of the Convention. After all, Ukraine does not care about good neighborly relations and compliance with the norms of international law. We want and can find a common language and correct the mistakes of the past,” Srilets wrote on Facebook.

The interstate dispute over the Danube-Black Sea channel has been going on since 2004. Since then, Ukraine has launched sailing in “experimental mode”. The European Commission and Romania had claims against Ukraine due to the nature protection status of the delta.

To resolve the dispute, a Commission was created in January 2005 to form a well-founded opinion on the possible effects of the use of the canal.