Ukraine has “paused” its complaints against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia at the World Trade Organization, trying to find a compromise solution.
Source: Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka, speaking with the media in Brussels, reports “European truth” with reference to Interfax-Ukraine
Direct speech: “This problem (import of Ukrainian agricultural products. – Ed.) will be resolved in the coming weeks and months. There will be a lot of news about how the licensing regime is changing and the like. This will be very active work. Therefore, while we are looking for a practical solution, our disputes in the WTO are on pause for today.”
Details: He emphasized that Ukraine has not yet begun the process of dispute in the WTO.
“We are not in a dispute – we did not formalize a working body to conduct a dispute, we are at the consultation stage. We sent (in WTO) this is a matter, and there are 60 days for consultations,” the trade representative explained.
According to him, Ukraine is interested in finding a constructive solution within the entire EU.
“Even though the complaints we have made are against specific member states, including Poland, this is a systemic issue in our relations with the EU. Our goal is to emphasize that the EU and Ukraine have the same approach to trade agreements. Therefore, we see “how to solve this problem in a comprehensive manner so as to show unity between us and Poland, between us and the EU, and between Poland and the EU,” noted Taras Kachka.
He called it a “great common achievement” that there are no problems with neighbors with the direct transit of Ukrainian products. “The only sensitive point we have left is the question of when the markets of neighboring countries can be opened for Ukrainian goods. This is a minimal problem, because we do not sell a lot of grain products there. But this is generally a question of the functioning of trade between Ukraine and the EU,” – added the trade representative.
Speaking about the situation with Poland, Kachka expressed hope that the parties will be able to return to the discussion after the elections, since there are no systemic obstacles to solving the problem.
“As of now, there are no requests for export licenses from Ukrainian companies to Poland – which is an additional indicator that there is no massive export pressure on the Polish domestic market. We are using this time to show that in reality the clear interest of Ukrainian exporters is simply export to those EU member states where the demand for Ukrainian goods is really high,” he said.
What preceded: After the end of temporary restrictions at the EU level on the import of certain types of agricultural products, Ukraine proposed to the European Commission and Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania export control plan for four groups of crops – wheat, corn, sunflower and rapeseed – to protect their domestic markets.
Despite this, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced unilateral restrictions on Ukrainian imports, which prompted Ukraine start an appeal their actions in the World Trade Organization.
Read also: Ingratitude or integrity: what mistakes did Kyiv make in the grain conflict with Poland?.
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2023-10-05 13:01:06
