MOSCOW, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Ukraine intend to draft a list of product categories requiring tariff protection after both countries become World Trade Organization (WTO) members, an economic ministry official said Monday.
Andrei Kushnerenko, deputy director of the Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry's trade negotiations department, said after negotiations held in Kiev last Friday that Russia and Ukraine understood the need to protect certain goods, which are crucial to the countries' economies. However, Ukraine and Russia differ on the number of product categories requiring protection, with Ukrainian experts estimating them at three to five and Russian experts at seven to ten.
According to the official, the list of protected product categories includes meat, vegetable oil, sugar, and alcohol, along with industrial products, including aircraft, furniture, and non-ferrous metal goods.
If Ukraine joins the WTO, it will abolish import duties on these goods. Kushnerenko said this could lead to surges in these imports into Russia from Ukraine.
"The parties agreed, if this situation appeared with a sharp commodity flow on the Russian market, to use an emergency mechanism to improve the situation," Kushnerenko said, adding that the mechanism would employ customs procedures on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
