Visegrad Group wants Ukraine to withdraw complaint to WTO on grain embargo
The agriculture ministers of the Visegrad Group, which includes Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia, said that Ukraine's withdrawal of its complaint to the World Trade Organisation over the grain embargo would improve the atmosphere in their relations.
Source: European Pravda with reference to RMF FM
Details: "It was with great surprise and concern that we received the decision about filing a complaint by Ukraine to the World Trade Organisation, and we expect Ukraine to withdraw this decision," said Polish Deputy Agriculture Minister Ryszard Bartosik after talks in the Czech city of Znojmo.
He stressed that this will facilitate further negotiations and that Poland is committed to dialogue with Ukraine.
Other Visegrad partners also called for the withdrawal of the complaint, which was heard by Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi via an online call.
"There was no answer to my question whether Ukraine would withdraw the complaint. The Minister said that this was not a key issue, but it is a key issue for us. It is very important. It would create a good climate and we would avoid months of proceedings," Bartosik said.
Bartosik noted that the embargo is supported by the fact that "transit volumes are increasing every day, every week, every month. It is therefore unclear why the European Union has not extended its restriction." The most important conclusion of the meeting, he added, is that grain from Ukraine should go where it is needed and should not create difficulties in the markets of neighbouring countries and negatively affect agriculture in those countries.
The host of the meeting, Czech Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný, summed up the talks by saying that the Visegrad countries called on the European Commission to control the solidarity corridors through which Ukrainian grain is to be transported to third countries.
Background: The day before, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening speech that progress had been made in resolving the dispute over unilateral restrictions on agricultural goods from Ukraine in neighbouring EU member states. "We are gradually removing emotions from this topic on most issues. Work with our neighbours can and must become quite constructive, and Ukraine is doing everything for this," Zelenskyy added.
Ukraine has proposed to the European Commission and Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania an export control plan for four crop groups – wheat, maize, sunflower and rapeseed – to protect their domestic markets.
Nevertheless, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced unilateral restrictions on Ukrainian imports, prompting Ukraine to launch a complaint for their actions at the World Trade Organisation.
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