Dutch minister leads trade mission to Ukraine ahead of referendum on Association Agreement

The Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Lilianne Ploumen is in Ukraine on an official visit to hold talks with Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko and meet with Ukrainian entrepreneurs, Ukraine Today reported Tuesday.

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"With this visit we hope to pave the way for closing new contracts and expanding existing ones,” says Ploumen, according to Ukraine Today.

“That is why the Association Agreement is of such importance: it is about the economic and political reforms and taking away obstacles, to make trade flow easier," the official said.

Read also#DutchInUA: "People should understand, ‘No-vote' would mean support for Putin"The trade mission comes ahead of an April 6 referendum in the Netherlands on Ukraine's Association Agreement with the EU.

Ploumen will also tour a number of Dutch enterprises in the agricultural sector and meet Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko. She is also set to meet Ukraine's Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abramovicius.

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