The XI Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in Buenos Aires wrapped up

Through December 10 – 13, 2017, the XI WTO Ministerial Conference took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ukraine was represented by First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv, Deputy Minister, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on European Integration OlhaTrofymtseva, representatives of the Administration of the President of Ukraine and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.

During the Conference, Ukraine supported the decision on extending the practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions for another two years till the next Ministerial Conference scheduled to hold in 2019. Moreover, Ukraine has joined a commitment from members to secure a deal on fisheries subsidies which delivers on Sustainable Development Goal by the end of 2019, as well as to improve the reporting of existing fisheries subsidy programmes. Representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade took part in the discussion of issues related to the abolition by WTO member countries of domestic support in agriculture, which distorts international trade.

In a statement at the plenary session, First Vice Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv noted that further liberalization of trade and the improvement of rules and disciplines would ensure the gradual equalization of the obligations among the members who had established the WTO and the members who joined the organization in accordance with Article XII of the Agreement.

“A great challenge for the WTO members is to ensure appropriate implementation of commitments and compliance with the provisions of the agreements in force. Unfortunately, we have recently seen some tendency towards the introduction by individual members of a number of trade restricting measures. We would like to call on members to refrain from applying new trade restrictions, and to eliminate the existing ones not being stipulated for by the WTO norms”, said Stepan Kubiv.

Within the framework of the Conference, the Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska took part in the signing of the Joint Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment. Over 100 countries, including Ukraine, have agreed to collaborate on making countries’ trade and development policies more gender responsive.

The Ukrainian delegation also held bilateral meetings with members of the Governments of Argentina, Bangladesh, Egypt, Great Britain, Israel, Qatar, Turkey and Switzerland, as well as with the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Roberto Azevêdo.

Bangladesh, the Great Britain, Israel, Turkey and Switzerland are among the markets in focus, included in the Export Strategy of Ukraine. With this view, the meetings focused on expanding bilateral trade, eliminating existing barriers and strengthening cooperation along promising sectors of our exports.

At meetings with representatives of economic departments of Israel and Turkey Natalia Mykolska discussed the current situation on the path towards the conclusion of free trade agreements.

With Minister of Commerce and Minister of Industries of the Government of Bangladesh, Tofael Ahmed, the Ukrainian party determined promising directions for bilateral trade in machine building, agriculture and infrastructure construction industries. Stepan Kubiv noted that Ukraine is ready to export technology production of coal in Bangladesh and keen in joint oil and gas extraction.

Moreover, the Ukrainian delegation agreed with the UK Minister of State for International Trade, Greg Hands to enhance bilateral trade taking into account Britain"s exit from the EU.

With the head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) of Switzerland Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, the Ukrainian delegation spoke about an increase in Ukrainian exports and the importance of holding a meeting of Joint Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation in October 2018.

Finally, in the framework of the conference there has been presented an on-line portal Global Trade Helpdesk for small and micro businesses, developed by the World Trade Organization and the International Trade Center. This is a unique global resource for exporters, which contains a lot of useful information. Presentation of the resource at http://bit.ly/2kombQz .