Ukraine, EU set up working group on food security
MOSCOW. June 27 (Interfax) - Ukraine on June 24 set up a working group on food security and enhancement of the EU food system, whose mandate will include, in particular, surveys of the Ukrainian food market.
Ukrainian media have reported with reference to the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry that the working group was set up following a meeting in the Lviv region between a Ukrainian delegation, including Deputy Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Markiyan Dmytrasevych, Verkhovna Rada Agrarian and Land Policy Committee member Oleksandr Haidu, Director of the Ukrainian National Agrarian Forum Maria Didukh, head of the Lviv regional military administration Maksym Kozytsky, and others, and a delegation of European Parliament members.
"We have decided to set up a working group to survey the food market in Ukraine. We plan to draw up the first analysis report and familiarize the European public with it in July," the ministry quoted European Parliament member Dacian Ciolos as saying.
The foreign delegation members acknowledged that Ukraine plays a key role in global food security.
"It is important for us to make sure that Ukraine continues its agricultural activity. The key message we will send to our colleagues upon returning home is that Ukraine needs assistance already now, particularly as regards logistics. Certain standards and procedures should be eased to ensure transits of Ukrainian products. The world should be confident that Ukrainian agrarians can continue their work," Ciolos said at the meeting.
Dmytrasevych said that, if Ukrainian agrarians are unable to sell their harvest, they might run out of financial resources they would require to sow winter crops several months later.
Haidu said at the meeting that Ukraine sowed summer crops on about 80% of land compared to 2021, despite the current situation and fuel shortage, the ministry said.
"We expect grain harvest to reach about 50 million tonnes this year. Last year's figure was 86 million tonnes," the ministry quoted Haidu as saying.