Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boiko, who was recently appointed the new head of the working group on cooperation with the Customs Union, held talks in Astana on April 24 with Kazak Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov and his deputy, Kairat Kelimbetov, to discuss the expansion of Ukraine's cooperation with the Customs Union countries.
“The sides discussed the development of mutually beneficial relations and Ukraine’s integration into the Customs Union, Ukraine’s observer status, and an increase in the volume of trade in goods and services,” the vice premier’s press service reported.
According to the press service, the sides also discussed the possibilities and conditions of Ukraine’s accession to a number of concrete agreements within the legal framework of the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
As reported, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on April 23 that Ukraine had reached a tentative agreement about getting observer status in the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, which can be formalized at a meeting with the leadership of this organization in late May.
At the same time, Russian Deputy Minister for Economic Development Alexei Likhachev said that this issue had not been resolved and that negotiations with the Ukrainian side were currently continuing at a bilateral level with the member countries of the Customs Union and at the level of the council of the Eurasian Economic Commission, which serves as a supranational regulatory body of this union.
