The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine is for open, constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation with Polish counterparts, - statement

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine regrets the decision of its Polish counterparts to temporarily restrict exports of agricultural goods from Ukraine to and through the territory of Poland (including transit). The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has always supported open, constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation in accordance with the Association and Free Trade Agreements between Ukraine and the EU.

The decisions of the Polish side contradict our agreements. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, for its part, has always been sympathetic to the situation in the Polish agricultural sector and responded promptly to various challenges. Last week we agreed that 4 crops: wheat, corn, sunflower seeds and rapeseed will be transported through Poland only by transit until 1 July 2023. This week we reached a number of agreements to develop mutually beneficial cooperation in agriculture and solve logistics problems and agreed on the text of the Memorandum of Understanding.

We understand that Polish farmers are in a difficult situation, but we emphasize that Ukrainian farmers are in the most difficult situation right now. It is on the territory of Ukraine the war is taking place, namely Ukrainian farmers are suffering enormous losses from Russia's war against Ukraine, and namely Ukrainian farmers are dying on their fields because of Russian mines. At the same time, Ukrainian agricultural producers are responsive to the needs of their Polish counterparts, hope for mutual understanding and expect a constructive dialogue to make an agreed decision.

Currently, resolving various issues by unilateral drastic actions will not accelerate a positive resolution of the situation. We emphasize that there should be no misunderstandings between our states and business entities.

From our side, we propose to agree with the Polish Side in the coming days on a new Memorandum of Understanding that will take into account the interests of Ukraine and Poland in the context of constructive, reliable and effective cooperation for both countries and properly regulate the transit of agricultural products through Poland.

We are ready to cooperate with the Polish Side in conducting a thorough investigation of any possible abuses that may have occurred in this matter and led to the current situation, which is not in the interests of either Poland or Ukraine. The crisis should prompt our countries to cooperate even more closely in all sectors to address the root cause of these problems – russian aggression. This will allow us to restore and develop the logistics infrastructure for mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation in accordance with the rules and principles of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between Ukraine and the EU.

IC UAC according to the MAPFU