President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of Great Britain Boris Johnson signed an Agreement on Political Cooperation, Free Trade, and Strategic Partnership between Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on October 8, 2020.
The document provides a level of liberalization of trade, services, and public procurement, no lower than which business is now using in accordance with the current Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
The signing of the Agreement guarantees Ukraine preferential access to the UK market. Quotas for some goods will increase from 13 to 20%.
From the date of entry into force of the Agreement, 98% of the commodity nomenclature will be completely liberalized, and from 2023 another 2% will be liberalized for Ukraine.
The number of tariff quotas for Ukraine is 36 + 4 additional. Zero tariff quotas are set by the British side additionally provided under the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
At the same time, Ukraine receives a shorter period for reviewing the trade provisions of the Agreement (2 years after its entry into force) compared to the Association Agreement (5 years).
Among other things, the document envisages holding annual meetings of the strategic partnership dialogue at a high official or high government level on all aspects of bilateral cooperation. It is also envisaged to hold meetings of the Trade Committee, which will consist of representatives of the parties.
Also, the UK Export Finance (UKEF) is resuming work in the Ukrainian market to support British exports and can now provide loan guarantees of up to £2.5 billion for British-Ukrainian trade contracts.
The volume of trade between the UK and Ukraine in 2019 amounted to £1.5 billion. The leading exports from Britain to Ukraine were aviation products (£79 million), pharmaceuticals (£61 million), cars (£52 million). The UK imported £177 million worth of grain from Ukraine in 2019, and £182 million worth of iron and steel.