Non-Free Trade Zone
Russian ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin doesn’t share Ukrainian government’s optimistic stand on signing the treaty On Free Trade between Kyiv and Moscow. An information that it might be signed as soon as February appeared after Prime Minister Yanukovych’s visit to Moscow, where he held negotiations with his Russian counterpart. Now the ambassador informed that in fact it is only another round of negotiations between the two governments that is to be held in two months. As a political bonus of a kind granted to the new premier, Russia promised to think over the conditions of signing this treaty during this term, but nothing more than that. This year the commodity turnover decreased by another 20% as a result of the trade war. Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ukraine Viktor CHERNOMYRDIN told the journalists on what stage the negotiations between the two countries, continuing for over ten years now, have stalled.
“The new Ukrainian premier promised to expedite the negotiations with Russia on signing the treaty On Free Trade. Is Moscow ready to take necessary measures on its part?”
“Recently a meeting between the prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine took place. True, it is not the first time Ukraine raises this question. We, Russia, have our own opinion on this issue. The EurAsEC trade union is acting in our space. This is in fact more than just a free trade zone or even a customs union. We believe that the question Ukraine raises now to some extent contradicts the EurAsEC treaty uniting five countries. You shouldn’t think that the problem is not solved because somebody doesn’t want [to solve it] or is afraid of something. It’s just that we have to somehow connect EurAsEC and the free trade zone with Ukraine. The Russian and Ukrainian premiers have made a commitment to consider the crux of the problem and find out if such connection is possible. At the next stage of the intergovernmental negotiations to be held in February 2003 this issue will be considered in more detail. Then some decision will be made.”
“Is Russia ready for certain compromise to liberalize its trade regime with Ukraine? For instance, how crucial is preserving the current situation when whole groups of goods are excluded from the free trade regime? Is Russia prepared to reduce custom duties and cancel other trade restrictions?”
“There have always been and will always be some restrictions. They exist in every union, formation, and interstate relations. Believe me, this is a very complicated and delicate issue. This doesn’t mean that excluding [the groups of goods] is something inevitable. However, states have to protect themselves at any rate. So, it is impossible to say in advance that there will be no exclusions or that customs duties will be restricted to a certain level. Of course, it is in the interests of both partners that there would be no restrictions. We should build our relations in such way that the trade would be free; everybody strives for this. But I think we can’t say this right now, at least, we are not prepared for this yet.”
“Can we count on improving the trade regime between our countries?”
“We can see the aspiration for this on both sides, the more so that your trade restrictions cause a significant damage to Russia’s economy. Naturally, Russian measures, in their turn, restrict Ukraine’s economy. There is nothing complicated about this; everything is obvious and understandable. However, all this shouldn’t make harm to our economic relationship in general. Let’s strive for this. Incidentally, if we consider the structure of this relationship, we have not too many such restrictions compared to other countries.”
