Renew: 10.05.2023 18:18
Issued by: 05.10.2023, 14:53
Kyiv/Brussels – Ukraine has suspended a complaint it filed with the World Trade Organization (WTO) last month against Slovakia, Poland and Hungary over their decision to continue an embargo on Ukrainian wheat imports. According to the Interfax-Ukraine server, Ukrainian trade representative Taras Kačka stated this today. He added that Kyiv is working on a comprehensive solution to the trade dispute.
“We expect this issue to be resolved in the coming weeks and months. So, while we look for a practical solution, our dispute at the WTO is suspended,” Kačka was quoted as saying by a Ukrainian server, according to Reuters.
Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade met with journalists in Brussels today. He stressed that Ukraine is now conducting consultations at the WTO, not disputes. “We filed a complaint with the WTO and now there are 60 days for consultations,” Kačka said. According to him, Kyiv is now trying to do everything to find a constructive solution across the EU.
“While the complaints filed are directed at specific member states, including Poland, this is a systemic problem in our relations with the EU,” he added.
Meanwhile in Poland, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Economy hopes that when the election campaign in that country ends, all discussions can resume in a calmer atmosphere.
An embargo on Ukrainian wheat imports was approved by the European Commission in May this year for three Central European countries, as well as Romania and Bulgaria, but the ban expired in mid-September. Bratislava, Budapest and Warsaw decided to continue the embargo despite the fact that the European Commission, which initially approved a time-limited ban on imports of Ukrainian crops to several EU member states, decided to end the embargo. The three countries said they imposed grain import bans in an effort to protect their own farmers, who they say must compete with cheap agricultural crops imported from Ukraine.
Poland faces crucial parliamentary elections in mid-October, and the conservative national government is seeking to retain the vote of rural communities, whose residents have in the past largely voted for the Law and Justice Party (PiS). According to analysts, PiS’s harsh rhetoric towards Ukraine is a reaction to the growing popularity of the far-right Confederation party.
According to the PAP agency, Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said that Warsaw demanded that Ukraine not only suspend the complaint, but also withdraw it completely. “How can the Ukrainian government file a complaint against the Polish government for helping Polish farmers? This is a huge absurdity,” said the head of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture. “And our appeal to Ukraine is this: if we want to improve our relationship, then the complaint should be withdrawn rather than talk of suspension,” Telus added.
Regarding relations with Hungary and Slovakia, according to Kačka, Kyiv representatives dealt with these countries both at the EU level and also held bilateral talks. “We are doing everything in our power to ensure the situation returns to normal,” said the Deputy Minister of Ukraine when asked by CTK. When asked whether a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki should be held, Kačka said that “there is still a lot of work that needs to be done at our level”.
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