Participants in the first meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Committee reiterated their commitment to a free trade zone as of January 1, 2016 / Image from 112.ua
During the first meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Committee, a bilateral agency for cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union formed under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the parties reiterated their commitment to the introduction of a free trade zone as of January 1, 2016, according to the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union.
The meeting was held on July 13-14, 2015.
The two sides focused on the implementation of structural economic reforms in Ukraine, aimed at improving the investment and business climate in the country, stabilizing the economic and social situation, as well as improving citizens' welfare.
"The parties reaffirmed their commitments to the provisional application of a deep and comprehensive free trade area as of January 1, 2016, which should bring trade and economic relations between Ukraine and the EU to a new level," the statement reads.
It is also noted that the Association Committee was able to discuss cooperation in more than two dozen areas of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU, ranging from environmental protection and education to a dialogue in the energy and transport sectors.
Deputy ministers for European integration of almost all Ukrainian ministries, who participated in the meeting, were able to establish direct business contacts with partners from the EU institutions.
As UNIAN reported earlier, experts from the EU, Russia and Ukraine met in Brussels on July 7-8 for trilateral technical talks. The aim of these talks was to find solutions to the concerns raised by Russia regarding the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement/Free Trade Area (AA/DCFTA) that will be provisionally applied as of January 1, 2016.