Victor Yushchenko has told reporters in Helsinki he welcomes agreements on readmission and liberalization of visa requirements, which were signed at today's Ukraine-EU summit, president's press office reported.
The President described the above-mentioned documents as an “expected outcome of cooperation between the two sides over the past five months.” The signing of these agreements, he continued, shows that today’s cooperation between Ukraine and the EU “yields results that positively affect concrete citizens.”
“I think this is the first prominent contribution in our bilateral relations,” he declared.
Yushchenko said the visa deal was consistent with Ukraine’s national interests.
“This was one of my goals – I wanted to bring an ordinary citizen closer to the European Union,” he said.
The President said the agreement had lots of benefits for many categories of Ukrainian citizens but claimed it could have more, suggesting that they discuss this issue at future meetings.
“These are the decisions that, I am sure, our citizens complained much about. I think each citizen of Ukraine will feel this progress,” he said.
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said this agreement “has confirmed the desire of the European Union to move Ukraine closer to the EU.”
