Ukraine, Azerbaijan ban imports from occupied areas of Donbas and Karabakh

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Azerbaijan Alexander Mishchenko has stated this, Interfax-Azerbaijan news agency reports.

“During a visit by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to Baku, the heads of the two states instructed the chiefs of Ukrainian and Azerbaijani customs authorities to meet and discuss an issue of imports from the occupied territories of the two countries. The chiefs of the customs authorities met and developed a mechanism according to which products from such territories could be imported if only they were licensed by central authorities, Kyiv and Baku,” Mishchenko said.

In particular, products originating in Nagorno-Karabakh can cross the Ukrainian border only with the approval of Baku. The similar approach is applied to products originating in Donbas by Azerbaijan.

“For example, if sparkling wine is labelled as Ukraine, Artemivsk plant (Donbas), everything is fine. But if it denotes Novorossiya or something like that, then naturally Azerbaijan will not accept it. The similar approach is applied to products originating in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Mishchenko noted.

According to him, rules and regulations came into effect as soon as the heads of the two states gave their instructions. There is no need in signing any intergovernmental agreements for this purpose, as the chiefs of the customs authorities have already signed the relevant document.

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