Trilateral consultations in the Ukraine-Russia-EU format on the consequences of the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union will help avoid the introduction of large-scale response measures against Ukrainian exporters, Ukrainian ambassador and former foreign minister Oleksandr Chaly has said.
“During the talk between the Ukrainian, Russian, French and German
presidents, an important agreement was reached: on July 1 trilateral
consultations will be held in Moscow. I hope that certain progress will
be seen, and if Russia takes any response measures they will be of the
sectoral, not general character and affect certain sensitive sectors,”
he said at a press conference in Kyiv on June 27.
Chaly said that when Ukraine joined the WTO Russia had a similar
position, but Ukraine proposed concrete consultations with specialists.
“Indeed, problems appeared in some small trade sectors, but they were
settled at the level of specialists. Ukraine joined the WTO and Russia
did not take any actions in response,” he said.
The diplomat believes that during trilateral consultations attention
should be paid to how to ensure the implementation of the WTO rules on
the territory of Ukraine properly, especially regarding origin
certificates for goods and services.
Chaly also said that after the signing of the Association Agreement
between Ukraine and EU the issue of the possible joining the Customs
Union by Ukraine has been removed, and this could help prevent the start
of trade wars between Ukraine and Russia.
“They tried to use trade wars to convince Ukrainian society to join
the Customs Union. Today the issue is gone, and one of the grounds for
the future trade wars is gone too,” he said.
The expert said that economic relations between Ukraine and Russia
seriously depend on the political situation and the resolving of the
conflict in the eastern part of Ukraine.
