‘Negotiations between Kyiv and Warsaw on grain trade are progressing difficultly’, – said the Polish Minister

Polish Minister of Agriculture, Cheslav Sekerski, has stated that negotiations between Ukraine and Poland regarding grain trade are proving to be difficult.

His remarks were reported by the PAP news agency.

“We have conducted many bilateral negotiations with Ukraine – these were tough negotiations,” he said.

According to the Polish minister, Ukraine wants to maintain a liberal approach to trade, while Poland intends to impose restrictions to protect its farmers. There are also disagreements regarding the range of goods covered by the licensing system.

At the same time, the leader of the parliamentary agrarian group of the Polish Peasant Party, Krzysztof Pająk, says that the parties are “close” to jointly solving the accumulated problems.

“I think that today and tomorrow we can arrange things so that what is sometimes called transit is actually transit… I am optimistic about the results,” Pająk said.

Polish farmers argue that a large portion of Ukrainian grain, which is supposed to transit through Poland to other countries, ends up on the domestic market.