At the 10th "Bread of Peace" conference in Berlin, Minister of Agriculture Kazys Starkevičius met with the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine, Vitaliy Koval, and reaffirmed Lithuania's unconditional support for Ukraine and its farmers.

The bilateral meeting of Lithuanian and Ukrainian Ministers of Agriculture discussed the recent realities and challenges in the Ukrainian agricultural sector and the European Union (EU) issues related to the regulation of the trade regime with Ukraine. The most pressing issue for the Ukrainian Minister was how EU-Ukraine trade in agricultural and food products will be conducted from June next year, when the current unilateral EU trade preferences expire. The transit of Russian and Belarusian grain and other agricultural products through the port infrastructure of your EU Member States was also a major focus of attention.

Minister Koval stressed at the meeting that in 2024 only 16% of Ukraine's agri-food products will be exported to the EU market, compared to 26% in the previous year, and as much as 36% in 2022. This shows that the EU market is not the goal of Ukraine, but that the infrastructure of the EU countries for the transit of exports to the third countries of the world and to the traditional markets of their exports is very necessary. Moreover, Ukraine currently supplies only about 5.5% of the world market for wheat, up from 10% before the Russian war.

On the concerns of EU countries regarding Ukraine's integration into the EU market, the Minister assured that Ukraine's ambition is to export products with the highest possible added value, not just agricultural raw materials. It is very important for Ukraine to continue to maintain a sufficiently open access to the EU market, and they are committed to working with EU Member States to address the sensitivities in this regard. The transformation of the country's agriculture and food industry is taking time, but the ongoing war is only complicating this process. Finally, the Minister stressed that Ukrainian farmers want to be partners with EU farmers, not competitors.

Minister Starkevičius thanked the Ukrainian Minister for his support in the implementation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's initiative "Grain from Ukraine".

The international conference was attended by 122 representatives from all over the world, as well as representatives of the United Nations Security Council, the European Commission and the Council of Europe. The Minister stressed the importance of using all possible means to cut off access to the EU market for Russian and Belarusian agri-food products, thus easing competitive tensions on the EU market.

The Minister recalled that Lithuania has already banned imports of agricultural products from these countries. He welcomed the finalisation of the tripartite protocol between the UK, Lithuania and Ukraine, which will lead to the introduction of origin tests for cereals from Russia and Belarus. The investigations will be aimed at finding out whether the grain has been expropriated from Ukraine and marketed as Russian. This will also affect grain in transit through Lithuania, which is expected to lead to a significant reduction in the volume of grain transported. It was agreed that the origin verification mechanism would be particularly effective if it were to be extended in the future to other countries in the Baltic region and would deprive Russia of the competitive advantage of using the infrastructure of the Baltic Sea ports.

On the future of trade with the EU, the Minister reiterated that Lithuania has always supported and will continue to support the freest and most open trade possible, on which there is no unanimous agreement among EU members. According to the Minister, Lithuania will continue to encourage the early start of trade liberalisation negotiations, which will provide greater clarity for our important partners in Ukraine.