Ukraine took steps to integrate further with the European Union after parliament ratified the nation’s WTO protocol.
Ukraine’s government took recent steps to integrate further with the European Union (EU), with parliament passing its final necessary World Trade Organization (WTO) legislation at its April 10 session.
Just three days earlier, President Viktor Yushchenko announced he expects to sign an Enhanced Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, which he expected would lead to Ukraine’s associate member status by September.
“I think we will receive a clear EU membership prospect, just as we received a clear prospect for NATO membership several days ago,” Yushchenko said.
Parliament boosted such integration efforts with the April 10 passage of Ukraine’s WTO protocol agreement, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will submit to the WTO General Council.
Parliament also passed five WTOrelated laws and charged the Cabinet of Ministers to develop a plan of measures to bring Ukraine in compliance with WTO economic standards.
Ukraine is eligible to become a WTO member within 30 days of the General Council’s receipt of the approved protocol. Ukraine must also pass 10 more WTOrelated laws during that period, said Valeriy Piatnytskiy, the assistant economics minister.
WTO membership is widely viewed as Ukraine’s first real step in joining the EU, Ukraine’s largest trade partner, accounting for 25 percent of its exports and 42 percent of its imports.
In joining the WTO, Ukraine will also gain leverage on the Russian Federation’s membership bid, with a blocking option.
“It’s shortterm leverage,” said Vasyl Yurchyshyn, the director of economic programs for the Razumkov Center for Political and Economic Studies. “We need to stop trade wars.”
Ukraine’s ratification of the WTO accession protocols energized the discussion on a bilateral free trade pact between Brussels and Kyiv.
The impending WTO membership allowed Ukraine to begin negotiations on a Free Trade Zone on Feb. 17, expected to take eight months, said Viktor Chumak, a Eurointegration expert at the Westernfinanced International Centre for Policy Studies in Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is aiming to graduate from its current European Neighborhood Policy membership to associate member status by September, Yushchenko said.
“What the difference is between associate membership and neighborhood policy is unclear,” Chumak said. “Nobody knows what concrete political and economic benefits EU associate membership provides, but WTO and the possible Free Trade Zone create real progress in Ukraine’s Eurointegration.”
