Prime Minister Mykola Azarov on Wednesday ordered the government to better align Ukrainian regulations with those of the Customs Union (CU) of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, the country's major economic partner, to boost its trade with the CU, according to Xinhua.
"First of all, we need to consider acceding to the Agreement between CU countries on elimination of technical barriers in mutual trade with the CIS countries that are not members of the Customs Union. It is a very important document," Azarov told a government meeting.
Azarov also instructed responsible ministers to examine all agreements of the CU and submit a draft decision on the possible accession to those treaties to the government.
To maintain and promote the level of trade with the CU, Kiev should carefully monitor all new technical regulations which are implemented by the Russian-led economic block, Azarov emphasized.
According to the official data, Ukraine's trade turnover with the CU members of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan last year reached 63 billion U.S. dollars.
The CU of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia came into existence in 2010. It was launched as a first step toward forming a broader European Union-style economic alliance.
