By the end of this year, the joint border crossing point Palanca will be renovated and put into operation. People don't need to wait for hours to reach Ukraine while the process of verifying the documents will take only a few minutes. Today, a joint meeting of the two countries' parliamentary friendship groups took place at the crossing point. The officials discussed the progress of the works.

Palanca Customs will have five lanes at the entrance and exit. Every day, 1500 vehicles will pass through. The cost of the project is 5.5 million euros, of which 4.5 million are granted by the European Union and over one million are by the Government of the Republic of Moldova.

"The common point only allows for the presentation of the passport and the Moldovan customs officers, the border police forward to the Ukrainians and the citizen already receives both entry and exit stamps", Eugeniu Nichiforciuc, the Chairman of the Friendship Parliamentary Group with Ukraine, said.

At present, the Palanca crossing point is one of the most demanding stations, where huge queues are formed in the summer. Every day, on average, 200 cars and about 1,200 people pass. The authorities of the two states claim that once the common crossing point has been put into operation, the problem will be solved.

MEPs also visited the recently repaired Odessa - Reni bridge. This did not happen until Chisinau temporarily offered to the Ukrainian authorities one hectare of land, on which a road was built around Vama Palanca. The road was used during the rehabilitation works of the bridge.

The next meeting of the Moldovan-Ukrainian Friends Group will take place in October in Chisinau.