Ukraine ready for conclusion of FTA with UK, and hard Brexit trade representative
MENAFN | 7 November 2019
Ukraine ready for conclusion of FTA with UK, and hard Brexit trade representative
(MENAFN - UkrinForm) Ukraine is ready for conclusion of a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom and for economic cooperation in the face of hard Brexit.
"A free trade agreement [between Ukraine and the United Kingdom] is actually ready for conclusion," Deputy Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Minister, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said at the conference "Trade Wars: The Art of Defense", an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
He added that it provided fairly liberal access to the UK market. At the same time, the Trade Representative of Ukraine noted that a major methodological problem was the definition of the trade flow between Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Kachka explained that transactions carried out directly between Ukraine and Britain are only a part of real trade flow since too many transactions are consummated as exports to Poland, Germany or the Netherlands while the products are supplied further to Britain, being currently the only customs territory of the EU.
"This is the biggest challenge. As soon as we find a solution to this methodological problem and the tariff parameters, we will also agree on the parameters of partial liberalization for certain categories of agricultural products. But in general, the British side and we are ready to conclude this agreement as soon as possible. Another thing is Brexit itself and its format. It is unknown when it will happen and on what conditions," Kachka noted.
According to him, Ukraine is also ready for hard Brexit when there are no agreements: neither between Ukraine and the UK, nor between the EU and the UK.
"The tariff that will be applied by Britain in case of hard Brexit is rather liberal and will not really harm the existing goods flow [between Ukraine and the UK]. But this is extreme situation. We follow all these processes," the Trade Representative of Ukraine summed up.
