Romanian PM to visit Kyiv to finalise agreement about grain

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu is to visit Kyiv to finalise the agreement on further exports of Ukrainian grain to Romania.

Source: Digi24, reported by European Pravda

Details: Ciolacu announced that he and several ministers would travel to Kyiv to conclude negotiations on further Ukrainian grain exports to Romania.

Quote: "I think we will complete all discussions on exports to Romania."

More details: Ciolacu added that he regularly communicates on this topic with his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal, and the European Commission, and that there is also a constant dialogue between the ministers of agriculture and economy.  

The date of Ciolacu’s arrival was not disclosed, apparently for security reasons.

Background: Earlier this week, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that a preliminary solution had been worked out and that with the planned permit system, Romanian farmers would not suffer from Ukrainian grain entering the domestic market. 

Iohannis met with Zelenskyy, the President of the European Commission and Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel to discuss the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products and exports to countries through which they transit. Klaus Iohannis then said that they had managed to find a solution to both issues and that the problem with imports could be removed by creating a bilateral permit system.

Romania is one of the five Eastern European EU countries, along with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, that have experienced a sharp increase in imports of Ukrainian grain since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This triggered farmers' protests, which led the EU to approve restrictions on imports of Ukrainian grain until 15 September, while allowing grain transit to other countries.

After that, instead of restricting imports to the EU, Ukraine proposed to the European Commission and five countries an export control plan for four crop groups – wheat, corn, sunflower and rapeseed – to protect their domestic markets.

Nevertheless, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced unilateral restrictions on Ukrainian imports, prompting Ukraine to file a complaint against these three countries with the World Trade Organisation.

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