On Tuesday in Gyula, Ministerial Commissioner at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Gyula Budai said that more and more EU Member States believe that maintaining the Russian embargo makes no sense, and therefore there is a good chance that the issue will be resolved in the first half of this year.

The Ministerial Commissioner overseeing issues related to the Russian trade embargo emphasised that the basic requirement set by the EU for lifting the embargo is adherence to the Minsk Agreement, and he was of the opinion that this requirement is being met.

The ceasefire in Ukraine has been in place for a long time, so this requirement will soon become obsolete, he explained.

He was asked if he approves of the decision of companies affected by the Russian embargo to open up to new markets in the Balkan region and South Korea, Japan and Singapore. In response he said that “In this way they have managed to find new markets for products hit by the Russian embargo”.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)