Cabinet to confer with business on improvements to Ukraine-EU Association Agreement

The office of Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, in coordination with other ministries, will begin consultations with business on updating the Association Agreement with the EU, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanyshyna.

"Updating is a complex process. It does not consist of one document or one process. It is a multi-layered, multi-level process, which will eventually start in a bilateral format. But first of all, I believe that developing a strong, powerful Ukrainian position should not only be based on government analysis, but should also be supported by the proposals of civil society and, above all, business in fact, therefore, attention is an important announcement: very soon, before the end of this month, consultations with business, the so-called dialogue with business, will start," she said at a news conference on Wednesday.

She stressed that by the end of July a circle of experts will be formed who, together with the business, will gather key accents and should become the basis of the negotiating position of Ukraine.

"This will be about structural and sectoral dialogue, as well as general consultations that the Deputy Prime Minister will provide in coordination with other ministries," she added.

Stefanyshyna said it is necessary to focus on article 481 of the agreement, which stipulates that the parties should periodically review the effectiveness of certain mechanisms of the agreement.

"I absolutely support the thesis that we are reaching a level of Eurointegration 2.0. And here, indeed, I believe that it is necessary to focus on article 481, which stipulates that the parties should periodically review the effectiveness of certain agreement mechanisms. This is critical now in terms of the fact that Ukraine has done tremendous work in five years, and even 42 or 41% of the implementation of the largest EU agreement with a third country, I think this is a tremendous result, not ideal, but tremendous progress, given that the agreement covers approximately 27 areas of legal relations," she said.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua