Ukraine hopes to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013 at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.
“We hope we will sign the agreement on association and a free trade area in Vilnius in November of this year,” he said during a meeting with the foreign ministers of Poland, Denmark, Lithuania and the Netherlands on Thursday.
Welcoming the foreign ministers in Ukraine, Yanukovych said that Ukraine values the EU’s support in the country’s European integration.
“I believe that our efforts will lead to success,” the president said.
Foreign Minister of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski in turn said that he and his counterparts came to Ukraine in order to help Kyiv achieve the overall success. “In fact, we have a historic opportunity to achieve success for your country and for you personally, Mr. President,” Sikorski said.
Speaking about the composition of the delegation of foreign ministers, who arrived in Ukraine, he stressed that they could reach “a pan-European consensus for the signing [of the Association Agreement].”
Sikorski also thanked Yanukovych for his recent decision to pardon former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko.
“I want to thank you and to welcome the decision in the area of justice that you have taken recently, in particular the pardon. It has made a very good impression,” he said.
Sikorski praised the program of reforms, which are currently implemented in Ukraine, and the adoption of a number of bills by the Verkhovna Rada to support these reforms.
“It is very good for the relations between Ukraine and the EU, but, in our opinion, it is particularly important for Ukraine,” he said.
