Brussels, 09/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 July, the EU, Ukraine and Russia continued their discussions at expert level in Brussels. The discussions were part of the trilateral negotiations to find practical solutions to Russia's concerns about the implementation of the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement (FTA) - which will be provisionally applied from 1 January 2016.
The experts agreed to continue their work over the coming weeks so as to be able to report to their leaders by the end of July - European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, and Russia's Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev.
Further steps will be decided on this basis, including the next ministerial meeting in early September, with a view to reaching a common understanding on bilateral and trilateral solutions compatible with the EU-Ukraine FTA, the Commission summed up on Wednesday.
During the last trilateral meeting at ministerial level, which was held in Brussels on 18 May (see EUROPE 11317), Russia did not repeat its request for implementation of the EU-Ukraine FTA to be postponed. Under the ministerial compromise of 12 September 2014, this agreement will enter into force on 1 January 2016.
The three parties nevertheless agreed to step up their efforts at the technical level to find practical solutions to the Russian-raised concerns in three areas - customs cooperation, technical barriers to trade, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
According to the Commission, talks have been “constructive” this week, and “some progress” has been made on the basis of concrete proposals put forward by the EU for each of the parties.
The trilateral consultations on the EU-Ukraine FTA form part of the Minsk peace agreement of 12 February. (Emmanuel Hagry)