News

On 16 January in London, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Hryhory Nemyrya completed the negotiations on the final terms of Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization. This unblocked the way for the accession of Ukraine to the WTO.

Ukraine should be invited to join the WTO during the nearest session of the General Council in February 2008 and after the ratification of the accession agreement by the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine, it shall become a full-fledged member of the WTO.

Lithuania comprehensively supported Ukraine on its accession process to the WTO and spoke up for its WTO accession as fast as possible.

Ukraine’s accession to the WTO lasted almost 15 years. During this period the Ukrainian Government put a lot of effort to pass the necessary legislation for the implementation of the provisions of the WTO agreements and for the fulfilment of all the obligations associated with market opening. 

The WTO membership will add more stability and reliability to Ukraine’s trading system and Ukraine itself shall become more attractive to Lithuanian export and investments. Accession to the WTO was the only unresolved issue in the way of the EU-Ukrainian negotiations for further development of bilateral economic and trade relations, based on the new generation free trade agreement.

During the negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the WTO, Lithuania has succeeded to reduce import duties on certain products, to change rules regarding the classification of goods and to eliminate discriminating duties on oil products.