Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine will file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organisation against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia for unilateral restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products. At the same time, our government is offering the EU and neighbouring countries a compromise scenario.
"We have already submitted to the European Commission an action plan to control the export of four groups of agricultural products from Ukraine. Such control will help prevent any market distortions in neighbouring EU member states. In particular, we plan to adopt a resolution stipulating that goods exported to five neighbouring countries will be subject to verification and approval by the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy," Shmyhal said.
He noted that Ukraine has already filed a formal request to Poland, Hungary and Slovakia on violation of the World Trade Organisation rules.
"We are also launching an anti-discrimination investigation against the unfriendly actions of these countries in the trade sphere based on 2023 statistics. If Poland and Hungary do not agree to the measures agreed with the European Commission and do not lift their unilateral bans on our goods, we will decide to ban imports of certain categories of goods from these countries to Ukraine," the Prime Minister of Ukraine said.
Denys Shmyhal pointed out that Russia is attacking Ukrainian ports every day, destroying infrastructure, elevators, attacking agricultural enterprises, and mining fields.
"Further blocking of our agricultural exports by neighbouring countries will hit the Ukrainian economy, finances, tax revenues and jobs. Such a blockade will also play into the hands of Russia's plan to cause another global food crisis. We once again call on our neighbours to abandon harmful and unlawful restrictions, political populism and embark on a constructive dialogue that will actually benefit everyone," Shmyhal wrote.
On Monday, Kyiv filed a lawsuit at the World Trade Organisation against three European Union countries for their refusal to lift the ban on Ukrainian agricultural products.
Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have imposed unilateral bans to protect their national agricultural industries from a surge in cheap grain exports from Ukraine, ignoring the European Commission, which last Friday decided to allow the sale of Ukrainian grain to the EU.
At the same time, on 19 September, for the first time since the grain deal broke down, a ship carrying Ukrainian wheat left a Black Sea port through a temporary corridor established by the Ukrainian military. This is the first of two ships that entered the port of Chornomorsk last week. In this way, Ukraine is testing its ability to unblock its seaports for grain exports.