During the negotiations Prime Ministers of Moldova and Ukraine Pavel Filip and Volodymyr Groysman have elaborated joint approaches for the protection of the ecosystem of the Dniester river.
Considering the issues of regional cooperation within the Euroregion framework, the parties touched upon the protection of the ecosystem of the Dniester river, which is a shared natural resource of Ukraine and Moldova.
The sides agreed to establish a joint commission that would analyze the operation of the Dniester hydropower complex and would offer the necessary decisions to ensure proper level of protection of the ecosystem of the Dniester.
In this regard, the country will cooperate with European colleagues, in particular to hold the analysis of the impact of hydrocomplexes to the ecosystem of the Dniester river, noted Pavel Filip on the results of talks.
In turn, Volodymyr Groysman assured that the projects planned by Ukraine on the modernization of the Ukrainian hydropower industry are in line with standards of European environmental laws.
"We attach great importance to environmental issues. All of the projects that we are planning on the modernization of the Ukrainian hydropower industry meet and will conform to most stringent standards of the European environmental legislation", he said.
Volodymyr Groysman suggested that PJSC Ukrhydroenergo in close cooperation with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine worked with Moldovan partners and informed about the actions, drawn conclusions regarding environmental requirements, conducted consultations with Moldovan scientists.
"We are open to dialogue. We have good partnership, and we believe that constructive cooperation in this issue is very important. We will provide it from the Ukrainian side in order to maintain the ecological system of the Dniester river", said the Prime Minister.
He reminded that in the summer of 2016, the Government had adopted a concept of hydropower industry development for the period up to 2026, which set high requirements regarding environmental standards. Environmental improvement can be included during the development of feasibility study of modernization of a particular renovation or construction, noted Volodymyr Groysman.
"Definitely, there should be held serious assessment of such plans, and only aftermath we can talk about design and implementation of the project," he said.
This work should be completely open, stressed Volodymyr Groysman. "There should be secrets neither from the public, living on the territory nor from our international partners”, accentuated the Head of Ukrainian Government. “We will absolutely open, environmentally friendly and will spare no effort not just to achieve energy independence, but also to maintain good ecological situation in our countries for the future generations ".
The Dniester river is the main source of drinking water for many cities of the Republic of Moldova and some cities of Ukraine, in turn, said Pavel Filip.
"All of our projects must be for the benefit of people, and we must think about next generations, including in terms of the preservation of nature", said the Prime Minister of Moldova.
