Ukraine pauses complaints against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia at the WTO
Ukraine has suspended its complaints against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia at the World Trade Organisation.
This was stated by Ukraine's trade representative Taras Kachka, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
The parties are currently looking for a practical solution.
"This is a general issue of trade between Ukraine and the EU. We see that this problem (imports of Ukrainian agricultural products - ed.) will be eliminated in the coming weeks and months. There will be a lot of news about how the licensing regime is changing, etc. It will be very active work," he says.
Ukraine has not yet started the WTO dispute process.
"Our disputes in the WTO are on hold for today - we have not set up a working body to conduct the dispute; we are at the stage of consulting. We have sent this case to the WTO, and there are 60 days for consultations," Kachka explained.
In his words, Ukraine is interested in finding a workable solution within the EU.
Regarding the situation with Poland, Kachka expressed hope that the parties will be able to return to discussions after the elections, as there are no systemic obstacles to resolving the problem.
"As of now, Poland has not received any requests for export licences from Ukrainian companies, which is an additional indicator that there is no massive export pressure on the Polish domestic market. We are using this time to show that, in reality, the clear interest of Ukrainian exporters is simply to export to those EU member states where the demand for Ukrainian goods is really high," he said.
It will be recalled that Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said earlier that Ukraine would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organisation against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over unilateral restrictions on imports of agricultural products. At the same time, the Ukrainian government offered a compromise to the EU and its neighbours. Slovakia and Ukraine then agreed to lift the embargo on Ukrainian agricultural products, after which Ukraine promised to withdraw its WTO case against Slovakia.
