Interfax-Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, 30.01.2004

The Presidential Administration of Ukraine believes it is necessary to allow as of January 1, 2005 sale and purchase of agricultural land, which is now under moratorium, and during the year to prepare the necessary legislative base for transparent and civilized functioning of the land market. Deputy head of the President Administration Pavlo Haidutsky disclosed this to the agency.

"The action of the moratorium on sale and purchase of agricultural land should not be prolonged, whereas it is necessary to develop the corresponding legislative base this year," he said. He said it is necessary to review the norm of the Land Code, which limits agricultural land ownership to 100 hectares by 2010, in order to extend it to 1,000 hectares.

As reported earlier, the Our Ukraine parliamentary factions is initiating prolongation of the moratorium on sale and purchase of agricultural land. According to it, hasty sale of agricultural land in terms of the existing system will finally deprive Ukrainians of the right to be owners of their land. The government opposes the prolongation of the moratorium.

The new Land Code that became effective as of January 1, 2002 offers to transfer land into private ownership to legal entities and individuals - residents of Ukraine, however there is a moratorium on sale and purchase of agricultural land until 2005.

Ukraine has 33 million hectares of tillage worth UAH360 billion. According to the State Committee for Land Resources, during the first years without moratorium about 10 million hectares of agricultural land will be offered to the land market.