Brussels, 18/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU and Ukraine hope to agree on all of the clauses of an agreement for the free-trade area before the Eastern Partnership summit at the end of September.
Meeting in Brussels on Monday 18 July, Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko pledged to agree on all of the provisions to create a free-trade area between the EU and Ukraine before the summit on the Eastern Partnership, to be held in Warsaw on 29 September. Negotiations between the EU and Ukraine are now in their final phase, and the negotiation teams now have the difficult job of agreeing on all of the technical issues and reaching a compromise on outstanding questions in a short period of time, states a press release by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Although De Gucht and Ukrainian Minister for Economic Development Andriy Klyuev already managed to agree on substantial progress in the negotiations for a free trade area after their meeting on 31 May of this year, Klyuev has announced that there were still problems to be overcome on the transport services chapter. On Monday, De Gucht and Hryschenko reiterated the importance of creating a free-trade area between the EU and Ukraine, to boost economic growth in the former USSR republic and its gradual integration into the single market of the EU. (E.H./transl.fl)