Ukraine has launched a program of the World Bank Group on training the Ukrainian beef producers to enter the European market. It was commented to UCAB by Kateryna Onul, Advisor on Food Legislation of the World Bank Group for Project ‘Reforming the Investment Climate in Ukraine’.

According to expert, the program developed by the project ‘Reforming the Investment Climate in Ukraine’ being implemented with the support of the Government of Switzerland (SECO) is designed to prepare beef producers to export their products to the EU markets.

The program will be implemented with the support of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection involving UFEB and the Association ‘Ukrainian Agribusiness Club’. It involves enterprises through the whole chain from farm to table. During training, pre-audit inspections will be conducted by experts of the World Bank Group for Project ‘Reforming the Investment Climate in Ukraine’ with a view to identify problematic issues and provide recommendations for their elimination in compliance with the EU requirements. The first training is scheduled for April 2017. The program is a year-long.

 ‘Our objective is to help the whole industry but not individual enterprise. We have a successful example where we developed a similar program for dairy enterprises. A series of training measures were taken which became one of the factors enabling to open the European market for the Ukrainian dairy producers. The criterion for definition of beef enterprises to be included in the program is their willingness to invest in implementation of the EU requirements. Currently, we are having a list of 14 companies identified to participate in the program,’ said Mrs. Kateryna Onul.

The program is aimed at preparing not only the private sector to enter the EU market. ‘These training activities are common for both the private sector and state inspectors in order to have the same understanding of the requirements. We lay emphasis on the fact that the inspector should become an advisor and assist in solving the company’s issues instead of punishing it. The inspector should do everything possible to prevent the occurrence of unpleasant situation and protect the consumer’, Advisor on Food Legislation of the World Bank Group noted.

In the future it is envisaged that the inspectors participated in training will conduct the similar trainings for the enterprises that were not involved in the program.

We remind that in order to export to the EU products of animal origin from the third country, an approval of the country not just the enterprise is required. Ukrainian milk, poultry and fish products have been already approved.