Ukraine hopes solve customs problems with Russia next week

Problems at the Ukrainian-Russian customs will be discussed on September 10 in Kyiv at the extraordinary meeting of the Ukraine-Russia subcommittee for trade and economic relations. This was announced by government's commissioner for cooperation with the Russian Federation and the CIS countries Valery Muntiyan during hearings in the Parliament’s committee on economic policy, ForUm correspondent reports.

He expects a number of issues to be resolved over the course of the event. "It is no secret that, despite the significant improvement in the situation with the clearance of domestic products at Russian customs, the problems remain for some product groups. This applies, above all, to food. Issues with the goods at the railway have been almost resolved, but challenges remain on the roads," the official said.

According to him, it is expected that the meeting will bring together representatives of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, the Economic Development Ministry, the Industry and Trade Ministry. "Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov is also invited to finally solve all the issues," Muntiyan said.

At the same time, he assured that "a tariff war" is not a rehearsal for some kind of Moscow's reaction to the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, including FTA.

"There are no economic or political grounds for such an action. Moreover, it is known that Russia itself develops cooperation with the EU, including considering the issue of a joint free trade area, not to mention the fact that Europe is a strategically important trading partner for the Russians," Muntiyan concluded.