OREANDA-NEWS. June 02, 2008. Poland's joining the Schengen area has not hampered trade and economic relations with the border regions of Ukraine, but activated them, according to a statement made during the 13th meeting of the Euroregion Bug council in Lutsk (Volyn region, West Ukraine).

The chairman of the council's presidium, Volyn regional governor Mykola Romaniuk said that trade with Polish partners, who are represented with the Lublin Province in the Euroregion project, was USD 41 million in the first quarter of 2008, which is 68% up year-over-year. In 2007, Poland became the fourth business partner of Volyn region in terms of foreign trade volumes. Economic relations with the Belarusian region of Brest, which is also represented in the Euroregion Bug, have also stepped up.

Participants in the meeting spoke about the need to improve technical development of the Ukrainian-Polish and Ukrainian-Belarusian borders, as cooperation is being hampered by the insufficient handling capacity of border checkpoints.