Ukraine will agree with its neighbors on licenses for the export of agricultural products

During a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal emphasized that licenses for the export of major agricultural crops from Ukraine to Poland will be issued only upon agreement with the Polish side. In addition, according to him, Ukraine and Poland are negotiating on unblocking the common border.

On this occasion, the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna emphasized that the Ukrainian side has actually protected itself from the possibility of a critical situation in trade with Poland. For this purpose, the minimization of export dependence on its transit through Polish territory was ensured. According to her, compared to the situation a year ago, now everything is not so critical for Ukraine. The Black Sea Corridors have already been unblocked, export capacities in the Danube Corridor have been increased, and agreements have been reached on the opening of additional checkpoints, in particular with Hungary. Ukraine also limited the export of products to Poland. But if the problems on the border with Poland continue and nothing is done to solve them, then Ukrainian exporters will simply reorient themselves to other directions.

It is worth noting that the ambassadors of the member states of the European Union agreed to extend the liberalization of trade with Ukraine on the condition that quotas and duties will be introduced based on the volume of imports not only in 2022 and 2023, but also in the second half of 2021. Emergency braking is also foreseen for particularly sensitive categories of agricultural products - poultry meat, eggs, sugar, oats, corn, cereals and honey.

Currently, this decision has to be re-approved by the European Parliament, as it differs from the previously agreed one. Its last plenary session before the elections, and thus the renewal of the composition of the EU legislature, will take place in April.

It should be noted that the Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk himself, commenting on the contradictions with Ukraine in agrarian and trade policy in the conditions of the full-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation, said that the Poles are paying too high a price. At the same time, the Polish prime minister considers himself the most pro-Ukrainian politician in Europe.