Russia and Ukraine to revise all current restrictive procedures on home markets

Before the end of the year Russia and Ukraine will revise all existing restrictive procedures on the domestic markets, said Herman Gref, Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade, on Wednesday after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Alexander Shlapak.

Herman Gref said that they had discussed in detail the bilateral trade and economic relations and the decreasing volume of their trade turnover. The minister said that a special expert group would be set up shortly to coordinate the bilateral legislative base before October 15.

The heads of the economic departments of Russia and Ukraine discussed the new edition of the Free Trade Agreement, said Herman Gref. He said that there are differences on that issue, and that they had agreed during their negotiations to hold additional consultations.

According to the Ukrainian Minister Alexander Shlapak, these differences concern export duties, exemptions from free trade and the introduction by the sides of new restrictions in their reciprocal trade. It is believed that these issues will be discussed at the next meeting between President Vladimir Putin and President Leonid Kuchma.