Kiev deems export across Ukrainian-Polish border to be inexpedient

MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Ukraine and Poland will always be partners and rivals in agriculture, and a very long search for mutual understanding will be necessary before the Ukrainian-Polish border becomes a favorable place for trade in agricultural products, Ukrainian media quoted Ukrainian Deputy Economy Minister, Trade Representative Taras Kachka as saying at the Forbes AgriFood conference in Kiev on Thursday.

"Ukraine and Poland will always be both partners and rivals in agriculture," Kachka said, while disagreeing with Polish colleagues who try to discredit Ukrainian agricultural products instead of solving problems of Polish farmers.

The Ukrainian government is concerned about the lack of Polish effort to find a joint solution to the problem, including by the elaboration of an export licensing mechanism, Kachka said.

"I was very surprised when Polish colleagues neglected what was clear to our Bulgarian and Romanian colleagues. The stubborn attempts to prove that Ukrainian agriculture is bad troubles me, personally, and the Ukrainian government," he said.

In order to solve the problems of Polish farmers, the sides should listen to each other closely instead of competing "in the search for corn mold, tracking down Ukrainian corn throughout Europe" or threatening to close the border with Germany and Slovakia, from where Ukrainian grain is allegedly re-exported to Poland, Kachka said.

"This is not the protection of farmers but the outright discreditation of Ukrainian products," he said, adding that both sides were far from eliminating problems in bilateral cooperation.

Kachka called for the beginning of serious and calm negotiations on estimating the balance of grains, sugar and other goods, instead of "jumping from one subject to another" in an attempt to limit imports.

"We are facing a very long process of the search for a common language before we can call the Ukrainian-Polish border a favorable place for trade in agricultural products. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee this physically. You have seen the attacks on Ukrainian trucks. We can also see that the blocking makes the time of crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border completely unpredictable. So, obviously, the use of other borders would be a rational solution for Ukrainian exporters [of agricultural products]," he said.

In his opinion, the Ukrainian-Polish border will not be working properly for agricultural products in 2024, as the bias against Ukrainian products is growing instead of being dispelled.

Ukrainians relied excessively on other countries' solidarity with Kiev, he said.

"The words that we hear in all statements of stakeholders in support for Ukraine have created excessive expectations on our part and instilled hope that we will be treated with an understanding of all financial features. However, we see that behind the general support hides the accumulation of many prejudices not only in Poland, but also in farming circles throughout the EU," Kachka said. All the Ukrainian government can do now is persuade them that Kiev is a partner, he said.

Ukraine is integrated into the EU and will become a chief food security actor on the global grain and livestock markets together with it, Kachka said.

"We are just at the outset of the painful search for mutual understanding," he said.