The Committee on Industrial and Regulatory Policy, and Entrepreneurship held the Round Table Discussion "Free Trade Zone with the EU: Pros and Cons for the Ukrainian Business"
23 November 2010, 12:39
The People´s
Deputies of Ukraine, representatives of the Ministries,
the Departments, and non-governmental
organizations, entrepreneurs attended the meeting.
The participants of the round table discussion debated the governmental report on the drafting of the Free Trade Zone Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
N. Korolevska opened the meeting, and declared that the formation of a free trade zone (FTZ) was a strategic medium-term goal of the bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. The free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU should be established to form a common economic space for Ukraine and the European Union, which would facilitate economic integration.
According to V. Piatnytskyi, Deputy Minister of Economy, conclusion of the Agreement on FTZ sets several specific provisions on the liberalization of goods and services sale; far-reaching liberalization of foreign investments regimes; liberalization of public procurement regime; implementation of new rules of competition; use of hard and fast rules of intellectual property protection; incorporation of labour standards and environmental norms.
The participants focused on the potential advantages of FTZ for Ukraine. Namely, they discussed the formation of a harmonized legal environment to support the subjects of trade relations by means of coordinating the Ukrainian legislation with the European laws, stimulating competition and restricting monopoly, providing access of Ukrainian goods and services to the EU market, increasing the investment rates on the part of the EU member-states, enhancing effectiveness of labor force placement, harmonizing the customs procedures and increasing efficiency of the customs bodies, etc.
The attendants are convinced that the FTZ Agreement should be based on the WTO provisions: protection of the national industry by means of tariffs and support of the national regime; access to all the benefits of the EU domestic market.
The Agreement should set the exact terms of the transitional periods of gradual liberalization and alleviation of limitations.
According to the representatives of the Ministry on Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, strengthening of the bilateral trade relations is among the fundamental aspects of the EU integration. Thus, the access of the Ukrainian goods to the European market should be supported.
During the round table discussion, the participants dwelled on the progress of negotiations on the formation of a free trade zone between Ukraine and the European Union. In the result of the discussion, the Committee plans to draft the recommendations for the central executive authority bodies.