Brussels, 22/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - The third meeting of the EU/Ukraine Cooperation Committee (a body created by the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and composed of senior officials from both sides), held at the beginning of the week in Brussels, mainly focused on the search for a solution to the main market access problems (particularly in the automobiles and scrap iron sectors, etc.), as well as on the obstacles that are still prevalent in the field of bilateral exchanges in general and in the field of investment. The protection of intellectual property in Ukraine and the Ukrainian system of industrial certification and technical standards and norms (and its harmonisation with European rules) were also discussed in this context, but without any concrete results at this stage, according to information provided in a note from the Commission to the press.
On the other hand, the two parties agree in considering that it is not realistic to envisage, at this stage, the prospect of a free trade area between the EU and Ukraine, and that Ukraine's access to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is at any rate a precondition to be fulfilled by Ukraine before consolidating reflection on this subject. It is a known fact that the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Ukraine contains a clause providing for both parties to regularly assess whether the conditions are being met in order to envisage the establishment of a free trade area.