On Tuesday 3 October, Poland and Ukraine announced a decision involving Lithuania, which will speed up the transit of Ukrainian grain to other countries.
This is the first agreement between the two countries since the Polish ban on Ukrainian grain imports was maintained in mid-September (see EUROPE 13262/4).
Robert Telus, Poland’s Minister of Agriculture, has stated that from Wednesday 4 October, checks (which were to have been carried out) at the Ukrainian-Polish border on grain transiting through Lithuania will be carried out on Lithuanian territory, in a Lithuanian port. “Lithuania assumes full responsibility for these inspections”, he added.
Mr Telus also assured that Poland would continue to build transit corridors, “because it is good for Polish farmers, for Ukraine, for the European Union and for the whole world, since grain from Ukraine should be transported to regions that lack it”.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture, the decision “will speed up transit through Poland”.
The European safeguard measures (banning grain imports into five EU countries close to Ukraine, but allowing transit of these products) expired in mid-September and the European Commission has decided not to renew them. Hungary, Poland and Slovakia retaliated by extending the embargo, which led Ukraine to lodge a complaint with the WTO. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)