FM: CIS is no longer a threat to Ukraine's sovereignty

Intensification of cooperation between Ukraine and the CIS is a significant achievement of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in 2011, Oleh Voloshyn, Director of Information Policy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, told end-of-year press conference in Kyiv Tuesday, according to UKRINFORM.

"The main thing is that we no longer consider the very cooperation as some kind of a threat to Ukraine's sovereignty. On the contrary, the Organization is put into the active arsenal of Ukrainian policy on the post-Soviet space," he said, summing up the activities of the Foreign Ministry in 2011.

According to Voloshyn, the Organization is beneficial for Ukraine. "We use this particular platform [CIS - ed.] in order to advance our interests. If a free trade area (FTA) with CIS starts working, it first and foremost will be a win for domestic companies," the diplomat emphasized.

Voloshyn added that a FTA with the CIS "in no way contradicts the creation of a FTA with the European Union".