Trade Measures to Support the Moldovan Economy

Nigel Huddleston Excerpts

Monday 5th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade (Nigel Huddleston)]

The Republic of Moldova has been heavily impacted by the crisis unleashed by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. The UK stands resolutely with Moldova and its people as they pursue their own democratic choices and offer courageous support to their neighbours in Ukraine, in the face of Russian aggression.

The UK continues to do all that it can to support our friends and allies at this time. With this in mind, and in response to a request from Moldova, the Government have come to an agreement in principle with the Government of Moldova that the UK will liberalise all remaining tariffs on imports from Moldova under the UK-Moldova strategic partnership, trade and co-operation agreement.

The liberalisation package we are delivering will assist the Republic of Moldova during this crisis and provide opportunities to export greater volumes of goods to the UK. The UK Government offered this policy on a non-reciprocal basis as part of the UK’s commitment to its economic stability, with no expectation or ask of the Moldova Government in return. The liberalisation of all tariffs for imports from Moldova will be applied to the whole of the United Kingdom and the Crown dependencies.

Key details include:

Liberalising all tariffs under the free trade agreement on goods originating from Moldova. This will see tariff rate quotas on tomatoes, garlic, grapes, apples, plums, grape juice and cherries removed.

Putting in place a temporary safeguard measure to protect domestic industry in the event a surge of Moldovan imports cause serious injury or threat thereof, and will continue to protect domestic consumers by retaining all existing sanitary and phytosanitary checks and standards, mitigating any potential food safety risks.

These changes will be for an initial period of 12 months and will be kept under review.

The Government will shortly lay a statutory instrument to amend our domestic legislation accordingly.

As the Government have made clear on many occasions, the United Kingdom will continue to support the region for as long as required following Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and ensure the security and prosperity of those countries impacted.

[HCWS817]