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 .
