VZCZCXRO6912
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHKV #0082/01 0121325
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121325Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY KYIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0876
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0039
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 000082 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
GENEVA FOR USTR 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR FOR KLEIN/MOLNAR 
USDOC FOR 4201/DOC/ITA/MAC/BISNIS 
USDOC FOR 4231/ITA/OEENIS/NISD/CLUCYCK 
STATE FOR EUR/UMB, EB/TPP/BTA, EB/TPP/MTA 
 
E.O.: 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD WTRO ECON PGOV UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE WTO UPDATE: JANUARY 12 
 
REF: A. 2006 KYIV 4667 
     ¶B. 2006 KYIV 4648 
     ¶C. 2006 KYIV 4576 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Ukraine's Parliament passed a resolution on 
January 9 calling for a speedy conclusion to WTO accession 
negotiations.  The GOU is working on five outstanding regulatory 
acts, to be issued at the Cabinet of Ministers level or below, which 
are required for accession.  These five acts are currently going 
through the interagency clearance process.  The GOU is anxious to 
receive feedback from major trade partners regarding recently 
adopted legislation.  To keep accession on track, Ukraine hopes for 
consultations in Washington in late January to be followed by a 
Working Party meeting in mid-February.  A Ministry of Economy 
official conveyed to us the Ministry's belief it had removed 
obstacles to U.S. beef and pork imports, and its desire to begin 
discussing an audit of the U.S. veterinary inspection system.  Two 
shipments of U.S. beef entered Ukraine.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) This latest edition in a series of regular update cables 
regarding the status of Ukraine's WTO accession (refs B-C and 
previous) covers the period December 23 - January 12. 
 
Rada Pushes for Accession 
------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) The Rada (parliament) passed a non-binding resolution on 
January 9 calling on the Cabinet of Ministers to take all necessary 
measures to conclude negotiations for Ukraine's WTO accession.  A 
total of 311 MPs voted for the resolution in a show of support for a 
speedy accession. 
 
Outstanding Normative Acts 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Following the passage of the lion's share of WTO-required 
legislation at the end of 2006, the GOU has now turned to 
outstanding regulatory acts required for Ukraine to join the WTO. 
These regulatory acts, while not as critical as the WTO-related 
legislation, require no parliamentary action and are much less 
contentious.  The GOU issued one set of regulations, concerning 
import licensing procedures, back in November, and has identified 
five more as required for accession: 
-- Cabinet of Ministers Resolution on the registration of medicinal 
drugs 
-- State Customs Service Order on customs valuation procedures 
-- Cabinet of Ministers Resolution on plant varieties 
-- Ministry of Transportation Order on railway transport rates 
-- Cabinet of Ministers Resolution on quota allocation for import of 
raw cane sugar 
 
¶5. (U) These five acts have all been drafted and are currently in 
various stages of the interagency clearance process.  The GOU has 
removed from this list regulatory acts governing job and residency 
permits for foreigners, and minimum indicative prices.  After recent 
consultations with Working Party members, the GOU believes these 
particular regulatory acts are not required for accession.  Post 
will send an updated legislation tracker to EUR/UMB by email. 
 
GOU Anxious for Feedback on Laws 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Econoff met on January 10 with Vyacheslav Tsymbal, director 
of the Ministry of Economy's WTO Division, who said that the GOU is 
anxious to receive feedback from major trade partners on the 
recently-passed WTO legislation.  Ukraine hopes that the next 
meeting of its WTO Working Party can take place in mid-February in 
order to maintain momentum towards accession.  Tsymbal noted that 
the GOU would seek bilateral consultations with the United States 
prior to the Working Party meeting, preferably in late January, to 
discuss the legislation and agricultural support issues. 
 
Beef and Pork Imports 
--------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Tsymbal told Econoff that the Ministry of Economy believed 
its intervention (ref A) with the Ministry of Agriculture had solved 
the problems involving import of U.S. beef and pork.  He said that 
trade should begin flowing normally, and reiterated the GOU desire 
to arrange for a system audit soon, asking if the USG could at least 
provide an estimated date for when the audit could occur.  Econoff 
promised to forward the GOU request to Washington, but noted that it 
would likely take some time to confirm that trade is actually 
flowing freely. 
 
KYIV 00000082  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) So far, two shipments of U.S. beef have entered Ukraine in 
January 2007.  A long-awaited shipment of U.S. beef liver landed in 
Odesa on January 4, was customs and veterinary cleared, and has been 
sold on the local markets.  FAS Kyiv reports another shipment of 
approximately 75 tons of U.S. beef subsequently also cleared 
Ukrainian customs.  (Comment:  However, as this latter shipment was 
sourced only in EU-certified U.S. facilities and was brought in by 
an importer with a somewhat dubious reputation for business 
practices, post would caution these shipments are not yet conclusive 
evidence of the openness of Ukraine to the U.S. beef and pork 
trade.) 
 
TAYLOR