Pyvovarskiy: Open Sky agreement between EU and Ukraine still blocked by Gibraltar issue

"The main purpose of my visit is to discuss the Open Sky agreement between the EU and Ukraine. Unfortunately, I cannot say that we have made progress. We’ve heard that there is a problem between Britain and Spain regarding Gibraltar, and we agreed that we would continue to actively raise the issue at all levels. Now, it is not a question of Ukraine, it’s a pan-European issue," he said.

"This situation is unique, when we are ready, but the inner-European issue does not allow signing the document. Moreover, this inner-European issue has blocked several important treaties with other countries. Therefore, our Europeans partners will actively promote the solution of the issue of Gibraltar," Pyvovarskiy said.

The minister also said that the European side was planning to resolve this issue before the end of 2015.

"How it will be in fact, we’ll see," he said.

The Minister also said that given the circumstances, Kyiv has already started "some time ago, bilateral liberalization through bilateral agreements."

During the meeting, the parties also discussed the issue of infrastructure in the east of Ukraine.

Read alsoUkraine opens Common Aviation Area with EU"I have informed our colleagues what infrastructure losses we suffered in the Donbas conflict zone and the border areas so that our colleagues could start considering the possibility of financial assistance. Our lossesmay amount to more than a billion dollars," Pyvovarskiy said.

Read alsoUkraine closes airspace to Russian aircraft heading to SyriaIn addition, the parties raised issues on the development of inland waterways and reforming the railway transport and Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s railway operator.