(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine’s new agriculture minister said that the European Union should support his country’s farmers and not treat them as a threat to their counterparts in the bloc.
“The main message is that we are not a threat, we are a partner,” Vitaliy Koval said in an interview in Brussels. “With us, Europe will become strong and so will we. It’s a two-way traffic and we will not let you down.”
Koval came to Brussels this week seeking help for Ukraine to export its products after 1,000 days of Russia’s invasion. He separately met with agriculture ministers from neighboring nations, including Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, which continue to ban the import of Ukrainian goods while allowing transit to third countries.
Ukraine exported €10 billion ($10.6 billion) of agriculture products to the bloc in the first nine months of this year, compared to almost €7 billion in all of pre-war 2021, noted outgoing EU agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski. The sharp rise in Ukrainian exports was part of what spurred EU farmers to take to the streets earlier this year to protest alleged unfair treatment, along with high production costs and administrative burden.
Ukraine has been benefiting from tariff-free trade measures with the bloc, which are set to expire next June. Kyiv is looking for a more permanent trade arrangement.
‘More Transparent’
“Our rhetoric is clear, that during the war we need concrete steps to support the agricultural sector in Ukraine, here and now, and not some time in a year or two,” Koval said. “We are ready to be predictable and open. We understand that we need to take steps very quickly and become more transparent to the EU.”
The EU needs to decide which measures will continue and which will be dropped, Istvan Nagy, the agriculture minister for Hungary, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, told reporters in Brussels on Monday.
“It is important that we define with precision what will be the shape of the next free trade agreement with Ukraine,” he said.
Koval lamented that he often hears the phrase “you are too big for us” from European counterparts, adding that the hardships of other EU farmers don’t compare to those of Ukrainian farmers working in war conditions.
“We are the first country in the world that at the time of war provides for global food security with our food reaching 400 million people,” Koval said.
The country is looking for additional markets in the so-called Global South, as well as southeast Asia, and wants to process more of its products at home under a new strategy for agricultural development through 2030 that was adopted last week.
--With assistance from Volodymyr Verbianyi.
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