Ukraine ‘open’ to talks as Poland suspends grain imports

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has said that it is “open” to talks following the decision by Poland to suspend imports of grain from the war-torn country.

In a statement, the Ukrainian ministry said it “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,” the statement conitnued.

Poland apparently took the decision to suspend grain imports from Ukraine until the end of June, amid growing unease from the Polish farming community, who claim the flood of agri products from Ukraine into eastern Europe is driving local prices for produce.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative deal was signed by Ukraine and Russia on July 22.

Following the decision by Poland to reportedly suspend imports, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has said: “Last week, we agreed that four crops – wheat, corn, sunflower seeds and rapeseed will be transported through Poland only by transit until July 1, 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 emphasise 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,” the ministry added.

However, the ministry acknowledged that 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.

The Ukrainian ministry has added that resolving various issues by “unilateral drastic actions will not accelerate a positive resolution” of the situation.

The ministry statement continued:

“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.”

Ukraine has said that the crisis should prompt the two countries to cooperate even more closely in all sectors to address the root cause of these problems, which it said is Russian aggression.

Tags: Ukraine, exports, grain, Poland, imports, talks, agreements