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Olena Omelchenko Moderated the II Business & Legal Agri Forum

News date: 13 February 2020

Olena Omelchenko, the Partner and Head of International Trade Practice at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm, moderated a session HARDtalk: International Trade. Commodities on the II Business & Legal Agri Forum held on 12 February 2020 in Kyiv. The Forum was organized by Yurydychna Praktyka Publishing House.

The expert discussion focused on trends observed in the international trade and export of agricultural products.

“Recent global trends indicate that the international trade rules will change. First of all, we are talking about the realities we will face as a result of trade wars, as well as the prospects and possibilities of revising the Association Agreement”, — said Olena Omelchenko, opening the discussion.

In turn, Olha Trofimtseva, the Acting Minister for Agrarian Policy in 2019, spoke about strategic issues of Ukrainian agricultural exports, and commented on the provisions of the Export Strategy, which envisage expansion of markets and exported nomenclature, as well as diversification of the list of exporters.

The President of the Phytosanitary Association of Ukraine Vladyslav Sedyk gave examples of the use of phytosanitary standards for the purposes of trade wars and restriction of access to the market for one or another product.

Olena Neroba, the Business Development Manager at Maxigrain, spoke about the need for the government’s participation in protecting exporters and providing support when entering new markets.

Oleksandr Zhemoida, the Director of Multilateral and Bilateral Trade Agreements’ Department of the Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, stressed the importance of communication between business and state, development of the agrarian sector and creation of value chains, as well as export to the EU countries amidst the spread of tariff and non-tariff barriers.

Rodion Rybchynskyi, the Director of Association of Millers of Ukraine, raised the issue of improving the quality of Ukrainian value-added products, and Orest Matviichuk, the Leading Legal Counsel for the Black Sea Region at Engelhart Commodities Trading Partners, emphasized the need for cooperation with various business associations and other non-governmental organizations.

“The positive result is not slow in coming, the key thing is to not stop going”, — concluded Olena Omelchenko.

II Business & Legal Agri Forum is an annual event organized for the representatives of government, agricultural business and law practitioners. The event is aimed at establishing dialogue, discussing current issues and development of the agricultural sector in Ukraine.