At a meeting on Tuesday, the Verkhovna Rada adopted at the first reading the government bill on ensuring the traceability of aquatic biological resources and/or products, as well as attracting investments in the development of the fisheries industry, representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk said on Telegram.

According to the report, the bills were supported by 265 and 239 MPs of Ukraine, respectively.

Bill No. 9545 is designed to ensure sustainable management of water resources, prevent illegal, unaccountable and unregulated fishing, and promote conservation and rational use of biological resources.

The bill proposes that business entities create a transparent mechanism for conducting business, minimize corruption risks, reduce the negative impact on fishing, and remove barriers to free trade with the European Union. In addition, a Certificate of Origin, Catch Certificate, Re-export Certificate and a certificate of processing and traceability, which are necessary for mandatory customs clearance, will be introduced into national legislation.

The document sets out a number of responsibilities of the state, including ensuring the fulfillment of obligations to harmonize legislation of Ukraine with the European one, eliminating barriers to free trade with the European Union, quickly making management decisions, minimizing corruption risks, creating a traceability system, attracting new business entities to the market, and de-shadowing the fisheries industry.

Citizens of Ukraine will be provided with traceability of the origin of aquatic biological resources and aquaculture objects, as well as products made from them and, as a result, the possibility of consuming high-quality products produced from aquatic biological resources.

Bill No. 8119 will for the first time allow the state to compile lists of specific objects to attract investment, as well as determine the volumes of investment required for such objects.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, in turn, clarified that the purpose of adopting a bill on attracting investments in the development of the fisheries industry is the need to create a legal and organizational framework for their attraction and the effective and rational use of aquatic biological resources in the relevant fishery water bodies, increasing their fish productivity and improving ecological state.

"All this will stimulate production of products with high added value, the creation of new jobs, the development of breeding, increased revenues to the state budget and the development of economic potential and increased competitiveness of production of aquatic biological resources and products from them in Ukraine," the Ministry of Agrarian Policy is convinced.