UKRAINE'S WTO NEGOTIATOR REQUESTS CONSULTATIONS IN

UNCLAS KYIV 004216 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS GENEVA FOR USTR STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR FOR KLEIN/MOLNAR/SYDOW USDOC FOR 4201/DOC/ITA/MAC/BISNIS USDOC FOR 4231/ITA/OEENIS/NISD/CLUCYCK STATE FOR EUR/UMB, EB/TPP/BTA, AND EB/TPP/MTA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD WTRO UP SUBJECT: UKRAINE'S WTO NEGOTIATOR REQUESTS CONSULTATIONS IN WASHINGTON REFS: A) YARNELL-KLEIN EMAIL OF 11/7 B) KYIV 4183 C) MOLNAR-TSYMBAL EMAIL OF 10/22 D) KYIV 3670 ¶1. (U) This message contains a request for guidance. Please see para 3. ¶2. (SBU) Econ Counselor met on November 7 with Valeriy Pyatnytskiy, Deputy Minister of Economy and Ukraine's lead WTO negotiator. Pyatnytskiy briefed on recent progress with outstanding WTO-related legislation (ref B) and said that his team was intent on pushing ahead as quickly as possible to capitalize on the building momentum in Parliament. Pyatnytskiy recognized that some tweaks in the draft legislation were necessary, however, and emphasized that he wanted to ensure all the drafts were completely WTO-compliant before they go for a final vote in Parliament. ¶3. (SBU) As reported by ref A, Pyatnytskiy is requesting assistance in setting up consultations with USTR officials next week in Washington. Pyatnytskiy explained he was seeking Washington's input on the outstanding legislation and wanted to better understand where key WTO partners might have some "flexibility" regarding draft text. Referring to the USTR comments, he stated that in many cases the issues raised by USTR were either misunderstandings of the legislation or had been resolved in subsequent GOU drafts. He felt a face-to-face discussion could resolve many of these issues. (Note: Pyatnytskiy is requesting a similar meeting in Brussels and plans to be in Brussels November 13. End note.) Pyatnytskiy promised to provide in advance of the proposed meeting a response to USTR's recent comments on draft legislation (ref C),as well as texts of drafts passed by Parliament in the first reading. Pyatnytskiy also said he would be willing to discuss agricultural issues with Washington officials, and that he was working hard to solve the outstanding issue of meat certificates. He stated the Ministry of Economy had drafted a letter to resolve the meat certificate issue; the letter was now with the Foreign Affairs and Agrarian Policy Ministries for clearance. Post requests Washington agencies' guidance on responding to Pyatnytskiy's request about the possibility of arranging such consultations for Pyatnytskiy and 2-3 members of his staff. ¶4. (SBU) Regarding legislation, Pyatnytskiy said that he expected Parliament next week to pass an additional 5-6 outstanding laws in the final reading, and a similar number in the first reading. He claimed there is no daylight between the Cabinet of Ministers and Presidential Administration on moving the laws forward, and in terms of substance of the draft laws relating to WTO. In many cases, the Presidential and Cabinet of Ministers drafts were identical. However, in some cases the Cabinet clearance process resulted in ministries adding their own wish-list provisions to government-sponsored drafts. In most cases, said Pyatnytskiy, these extra provisions did not have WTO implications, but they might complicate the ratification process. The versions submitted by the President, on the other hand, were limited to just those legislative changes considered necessary for WTO purposes. TAYLOR