Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Vitalii Koval met with Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania Kazys Starkevičius in Vilnius. The ministers signed a memorandum of understanding on the grain inspection scheme between the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania.

“This is a trilateral document of understanding between the Ukrainian, Lithuanian and British parties. It is about the scheme of checking Ukrainian grain stolen by russia from the occupied territories using the special GVS system. The goal is to prevent this grain from being transshipped through Lithuanian ports,” Vitaliy Koval said.

Vitaliy Koval and Kazys Starkevičius also agreed to:

• strengthen cooperation at the technical level and exchange of experience in the areas of plant health, certification of plant reproductive material, varieties, registration and control of plant protection products;
• apply the same requirements for the transport of plant products as between the EU Member States, i.e. on mutually beneficial terms;
• seek solutions to ensure that plant products exported from Lithuania to Ukraine are re-inspected in Ukraine only in exceptional cases;
• make efforts to expand trade relations between Lithuania and Ukraine and seek technical solutions to facilitate bilateral trade in agricultural products.

In addition, the ministers agreed that Lithuania would provide technical assistance to Ukraine in the process of its integration into the EU.