FTA with EU to lift import duties for Ukrainian goods in first year, Azarov says
2013-09-18 15:15:05
Provided that the Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and the EU are signed, in the first year of their operation import duties on Ukrainian goods to be imported into the EU will be abolished, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said this at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday.
"According to agreements, trade liberalization covers more than 97 percent of tariff items, or more than 95 percent of bilateral trade between the sides. In addition, the abolition of import duties, which now operate in the European Union with regard to Ukrainian goods, will take place in the first year of operation of the agreement," the head of government noted.
He specified that then the average rate of duties in Ukraine will fall for the goods from the European Union twofold - from 4.95 percent to 2.42 percent. At the same time, the average EU duty rate for Ukrainian goods will reduce by 15 times - from 7.6 percent to 0.5 percent.
Azarov also added that the main changes for 99 percent of Ukrainian goods that are delivered to the EU will take place in the first year of operation of the agreement. At the same time, duties for the goods from the EU to Ukraine will decline gradually over four years.
Thus, the Ukrainian producers will get a temporary advantage and a chance to increase the competitiveness of their products not only in the EU but also in the markets of third countries," Azarov emphasized.
At the same time, he stressed that additional growth is expected mainly due to such economic activities as agriculture, food processing, textile and leather segments of light industry, metallurgy and metal processing, mechanical engineering, transport and legal services and the like.