Results of grain talks: Poland and Ukraine publish their comments

Mykola Solskyi and Robert Telus, the Ministers of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine and Poland, have published their comments on the results of the talks regarding the problem with the export of agricultural products to Poland.

As the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine reported, during the online meeting of Mykola Solskyi, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, with Robert Telus, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland, the procedure for issuing licences by the Ukrainian government to agricultural entrepreneurs for the export of wheat, rapeseed, maize and sunflower to Poland was discussed.

The parties discussed Ukraine's action plan regarding the export of agricultural products to Poland.

The Polish minister informed his Ukrainian colleague that his government is studying the mechanisms for issuing licences to Ukrainian exporters. The Polish government is discussing this issue, in particular determining who will or will not approve the issuance of such licences.

At the same time, Telus drew attention to the fact that Poland would like Ukraine to withdraw the complaint it submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding restrictions on the export of agricultural products to neighbouring European countries.

As Solskyi reported, a tripartite meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania will be held in the coming days regarding the transfer of veterinary control to the territory of the country of export destination in order to improve transit through Poland.

A similar procedure must be agreed upon for the transit of agricultural products through Polish territory to Germany, explained the minister. He reiterated that in August, such a control mechanism was agreed upon by Hungary and Slovakia.

At the same time, as the Polish minister stated, based on the results of the online meeting, his government "adheres to a clear position: grain from Ukraine cannot enter the Polish market."

As the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland reported, "Ukraine accepted our arguments."

Telus also confirmed that he asked the representative of the Ukrainian government to withdraw Ukraine's complaint to the WTO as groundless.

"We want to look for solutions for the future, to build mechanisms that will allow the grain to flow where it went before the war," he said.

As the minister said, the transit issue was discussed during the negotiations with the Ukrainian colleague. Poland is in the final stage of transferring control to Lithuanian ports. The Ukrainian side suggested that control be handed over to German ports as well.

"During the negotiations with Minister Solskyi, a licensing proposal, which Poland will analyse, was made. However, there are no corresponding procedures yet. The most important thing is that grain does not flow to Poland at this time," the press service of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture quotes Telus as saying.

The agrarian ministers of both countries agreed to discuss the results of the consideration of the issue regarding the introduction of the licensing procedure in a week.

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