The European Union and international financial institutions did not pay due attention to Ukraine's needs in the context of signing an Association Agreement, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement.
“Ukraine’s needs related to the implementation of large-scale obligations envisaged by the Association Agreement, as well as the difficulties of the initial stage of the functioning of a free trade area with the European Union, have not currently received due attention from our partners in the EU and international financial institutions,” reads the ministry statement issued on Monday.
The document said Kyiv expects the continuation of a substantive dialog with the EU, including with the involvement of Russia, “on a wide range of issues of interaction in terms of the functioning of a future free trade area between Ukraine and the EU and the current free trade regime within the CIS.”
“Given the urgency of the current problems for the other partner states that are at the final stage of negotiations on Association Agreements with the EU, they should be the subject of dialog as part of the Eastern Partnership,” reads the statement.
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In this regard, the Foreign Ministry said that a government decree suspending preparations for the signing of an Association Agreement with the EU “does not mean rejecting the course of European integration,” and Ukraine is continuing to actively prepare for participation in the Eastern Partnership summit, which is to be held in Vilnius on November 28-29.
“The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry hopes that through joint efforts the conditions will be created to return to the question of signing the Association Agreement in the near future,” the ministry said.
