Ukraine prepares for talks on FTA with Britain

Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Natalia Galibarenko, says Ukraine will have to conduct new talks on a free trade area (FTA) between Ukraine and Britain following a March 2019 Brexit.

"We will have to sign an absolutely new agreement with Britain that will regulate our relations," she said at a meeting of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's press club in Kyiv on Tuesday, August 28.

According to Galibarenko, "until now, we have only held expert consultations and coordinated our position with regard to this new agreement."

"We have already told the British side that we don't want to simply take the existing association agreement, exclude some sectoral parts, energy, and integration section, and leave some ten pages, stating that this is our new agreement," the Ambassador said.

The Ukrainian side seeks to hold full-fledged negotiations with Britain, she said, adding that the new FTA agreement should be "ambitious, even compared to the Association Agreement [with the European Union]."

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The official says there are economy sectors where the UK and Ukraine could strengthen cooperation, "where we can go beyond the limits of quotas, say, on sensitive products that used to be in place in the European Union," Galibarenko said.

"Now we're seeing a positive signal – the British side is ready for negotiations. They agree that this will not be a short, heavily cut agreement," she added.

According to the Ambassador, Ukraine should now form a delegation to conduct talks, and write out directives with Ukraine's vision, in order to start official negotiations.

After the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union in March 2019, the transition period will begin, which will last until 2020. Therefore, there is not much time to negotiate, Galibarenko says.

The Ukrainian side believes that during the transition period, it is necessary to agree on a regulatory document that will extend the provisions of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement regarding the free trade area.

"We haven't officially introduced such a document yet. In principle, a positive signal is that the British say they are ready to accept any form and any option we will offer that would reflect their position," the ambassador said.

Galibarenko also spoke about the prospects for concluding a bilateral FTA agreement.

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"While we'd been in negotiations on the Association Agreement [with the EU] for four and a half years, I don't have that feeling that we will conclude our talks with Britain within six months and agree on everything so fast," the diplomat said.

The Ambassador assured that Ukraine would defend the Ukrainian businesses' interests. "Of course, the British side is reassuring that there won't be any sharp transition, but I realize that businesses would like to be confident in the future," she added.

According to Galibarenko, "the ambitious goal of the British side is to have the final text ready by the middle of next year. To be honest, I doubt it will happen so quickly. So I am sure that we have a transition period, so let's use it effectively."