Ukraine ready for Russia's food embargo: Yatsenyuk / Photo from UNIAN
Ukraine is ready for Russia's food embargo and will take retaliatory measures in response to the Russian import ban on Ukrainian products, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk said when opening a government meeting.
"We expect that by the end of the year, the European Union will ratify the association agreement [with Ukraine], and a free trade zone with the European Union will enter into force from January 1 - Yatsenyuk said. - Ukraine is a part of Europe, first of all, the European Economic Area. We are ready for Russia's embargo."
At this, Yatsenyuk noted that Ukraine is also ready to respond with retaliatory restrictive measures.
Read alsoMinistry of Economy: Russian quotas for Ukrainian goods contradict FTA"Despite all the intimidation by our northern neighbor and the threat of further pressure, we clearly declare that the Agreement shall enter into force - Yatsenyuk said. - Our markets are the European Union markets," Yatsenyuk said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine and the EU signed the political part of the Association Agreement on March 21, 2014, and the economic part - in the end of June 2014, after the presidential elections. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the Association Agreement with the EU in its entirety.
Initially it was assumed that a free trade regime between Ukraine and the EU would have become effective from October 2014. However, in September 2014, after consultations in Brussels between representatives of the European Commission, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the parties agreed to postpone the introduction of the relevant provisions of the Agreement until December 31, 2015.
Read alsoRussia threatens to derail Ukraine's EU trade pactThe Russian side has repeatedly stated that in case of entry into force of the Agreement establishing a free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU, it would be forced to impose embargo on imports of Ukrainian products. At the same time, Ukraine says it does not consider such embargo a significant threat to the country. In particular, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Russian market accounts for mere 2% of the total Ukrainian exports of food products.
Read alsoPoroshenko: Russia can't prevent us from entering FTA with EUIn early September tripartite consultations at ministerial level were held in Brussels between Ukraine, Russia and the European Commission to address the possible negative consequences of the implementation of the Agreement on a free trade zone. However, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin, the talks were "inconclusive." According to the minister, the parties only agreed to continue holding expert consultations and confirmed their "common desire to develop practical recommendations in the context of a possible strengthening of cooperation" in three areas: customs administration, technical barriers to trade, phytosanitary restrictions.
Read alsoUkraine's FM: Russia's stance on EU-Ukraine FTA purely political - InterfaxIn this regard, Klimkin said that Ukraine's and the EU's position remains unchanged: a free trade area will enter into force on January 1, 2016.