Ukraine starts talks with WTO on revision of customs duties

Ukraine has started negotiations with the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning the revision of customs duties on a number of products, Economic Development and Trade Minister Petro Poroshenko has said. 

At the same time, at a press briefing on Monday, the minister denied reports of a possible increase in customs duties on various products as part of Ukraine's cooperation with the WTO.

"There has been unnecessary hype in the media regarding the fact that Ukraine plans to raise duties on a number of commodities. I would like to refute this information. We are not taking about raising the duties but about revising them. This is being done on the basis of a government resolution adopted in 2011, and it was we who started the talks," he said.

The minister said that the government's main purpose was to protect the interests of domestic producers.

"To date we have a list of proposals provided by organizations from various industries, we have revised them, agreed them and organized discussions with our key partners. And after they were signed by the government's representative, Valeriy Piatnytsky, we sent them to Geneva to open consultations on this issue," Poroshenko said.