Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk highly appreciated the existing cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine and wished that the beginning mission of Ambassador Vasyl Zvarych would contribute to the further strengthening of the Polish-Ukrainian relations. The Ambassador expressed his gratitude for the support extended to Ukraine by Poland in relation to the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The head of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture stressed Poland’s involvement in safeguarding global food security by enabling exports of cereals from Ukraine to third countries. He pointed out the measures which Poland had adopted to date in order to accelerate the control of food crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border. He presented successively planned actions which should contribute to facilitating the flow of agri-food products through the Polish territory to other countries.

Ambassador Vasyl Zvarych expressed his hope for further assistance in the coming months. He also pointed out that Russian occupants stole Ukrainian cereals which are then shipped through one of the occupied ports and sold as Russian ones. He stressed the willingness to engage in further mutually beneficial cooperation.

Ukraine is an important partner of Poland in the trade in agri-food products. In 2021, the value of the imports from Ukraine was EUR 930.4 million. Despite the difficult situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021 the Polish agricultural exports to the Ukrainian market grew by about 7%, to reach EUR 811.3 million. Poland’s exports to Ukraine mainly included cheeses and curds (EUR 97.2 million, i.e. 12% of the Polish agricultural exports to Ukraine), animal feed products, chocolate, processed foods containing cocoa and coffee. The unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine put the Ukrainian agricultural sector in a very difficult situation.