Photo from UNIAN
The free trade agreement between Ukraine and the European Union will enter into force as planned, on January 1, 2016, despite all the attempts of the Russian Federation to prevent it from happening, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said during an investment conference in Kyiv on Friday.
"I have no doubt that the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which is a comprehensive road map for internal reforms, will take effect in the near future. And as for a comprehensive free trade zone, it will come into force on January 1, 2016," Poroshenko said.
"Any insidious attempts of Russia to prevent this historical event are doomed to fail. The resolute commitment of Ukraine to the European House cannot be stopped," he said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine and the EU signed the political part of the Association Agreement on March 21, 2014, and the economic part - in late June, 2014, following the presidential elections. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed an Association Agreement with the EU in its entirety.
At first it was assumed that a free trade regime between Ukraine and the EU would start working from October, 2014. However, in September, 2014, after consultations in Brussels between representatives of the European Commission, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation, the parties have agreed to postpone the introduction of the relevant provisions of the agreement until December 31, 2015.
On August 13, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia had extended its food embargo to Ukrainian products, and it would become effective if the economic provisions of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union were applied.