Azarov: Ukraine and EU are interested in expansion of integration

The Cabinet of Ministers continues negotiations on the Association Agreement EU-Ukraine. This was announced by the Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

"I responsibly declare that the negotiations on the Association Agreement continue and the work to bring the country closer to European standards does not stop for one day. Our own Ukrainian project "Ukraine is a European state" goes along in its own pace," – he said. 

In this regard, the Prime Minister of Ukraine instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to ensure the trilateral (EU-Ukraine-Russia) consultations to determine the agenda of the event and practical contractual steps that will open the way for the signing of the Association Agreement.

 "Ukraine remains in the project of "Eastern Partnership". We are using this pause in order to continue to improve the Ukrainian legislation to European standards, to improve democratic standards, to rapidly introduce technical regulations and standards of the European Union into the economy, to improve the competitiveness of the national economy", – Mykola Azarov emphasized.

However, the Government can not sacrifice economic sovereignty and can not allow the Association with the EU, signed under current extremely unfavorable conditions, to be a failure both for Ukraine and the European Union.

The President Viktor Yanukovych also supports the opinion of the Cabinet of Ministers on the European future of Ukraine. He said that next month, it would become clear whether it would be possible to sign the the EU-Ukraine Association in the spring of 2014.

Currently, both the Government and the President consider the addressing of the pressing issues of Ukrainian-Russian relations, which would help to intensify and improve the efficiency of economies of both countries, a key priority.