Poland agrees to let Ukrainian grain through its territory after ban

April 19 ------ Poland has announced it has reached an agreement on restarting transit of Ukrainian grain through its territory on Friday, though transits would be monitored and sealed.

Waldemar Buda, the development minister, said a ban on imports of Ukrainian food products to the country would remain in place. Poland announced the bans on Saturday, saying they were necessary to protect its farming sector from cheap imports. At a joint news conference with her Polish counterparts in Warsaw today, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister said she was confident that Ukrainian exporters would respect the terms of the transit deal. Yulia Svyrydenko said Kyiv understood the concerns of Polish and Ukrainian farmers and was committed to resolving the issue.

She also told the conference that the Black Sea grain deal faced the threat of being halted.

"It is under threat of being halted and Russia has again blocked the inspection of ships," she said, before adding: "It is extremely important for us to unblock transit, otherwise Ukraine will remain blocked.

"We cannot together with our partners give Russia the opportunity to take advantage of this situation."

Pressure has been mounting on Brussels to work out a

European Union-wide solution after Warsaw and Budapest announced bans on some imports from Ukraine at the weekend, with other countries in eastern Europe saying they are also considering action.

Source: newssky.com