Talks between Minister Czesław Siekierski and the Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine Mykola Solski are ongoing at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – the Ministry of Agriculture announced on Wednesday on the X platform.
Talks between Minister Czesław Siekierski and the Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine Mykola Solski are ongoing at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, with the participation of Deputy Minister Michał Kołodziejczak and Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Economy Taras Kaczka. Representatives of Polish and Ukrainian agricultural organizations are taking part in the meeting, it was written.
The Ministry of Agriculture does not expect any announcement after Wednesday’s Polish-Ukrainian talks.
Will agriculture problems be solved?
On Wednesday morning, the head of the PSL-TD club, Krzysztof Paszyk, informed PAP that the aim of this meeting will be to try to resolve controversial issues regarding agriculture.
Today at 4 p.m. there will be a meeting of both ministers with a group of advisors and experts to resolve the controversial issues that have arisen in the field of agriculture before tomorrow’s meeting of our governments, said the MP.
According to Paszyk, the governments of Poland and Ukraine are close to an agreement.
We are close to solving these problems together in dialogue here in Poland, he said.
He added that the agreement between Poland and Ukraine should include clearly defined qualitative and quantitative quotas for products that could remain on Polish territory.
This is a goal that can be achieved, he said.
Talks with Ukraine are not easy
Minister Czesław Siekierski announced at a press conference on Wednesday that bilateral talks with Ukraine on food trade are difficult; The Ukrainians want to maintain the conditions of trade liberalization proposed by the EC, while the Polish side believes that restrictions on the import of products from Ukraine are needed. He added that there is also a need to separate humanitarian and military aid from economic support in a holistic approach from such a sectoral approach.
The minister explained that “it cannot be that farmers, mainly from border countries, are burdened with too high costs in terms of trade liberalization.” He noted that the Polish side is conducting talks regarding, among others, licensing “to bring about a certain balance so that these conditions are beneficial to both parties.”
We had far-reaching talks, but we also have significant differences, because the Ukrainian side talks about licensing only those products that are covered by the embargo, and we would also like to cover other products, e.g. raspberries. The Ukrainians respond that they will then license Polish frozen vegetables – explained the minister at a press conference.
According to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Polish-Ukrainian intergovernmental consultations will be held in Warsaw on Thursday, chaired by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
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