Azarov: Ukraine not to confine only to CU observer status

Observer status in the Customs Union will give Ukraine the opportunity to participate in the union's decision-making process, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said this in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV Channel ahead of the CIS Summit of Heads of Government, the press service of the Party of Regions reported, Ukrinform reports.

"Observer status in the Customs Union gives Ukraine the opportunity to participate in decision-making, not with the right of a casting vote, but with the right of an advisory vote. It's very important that Ukraine will have information about decisions that are being prepared and that it will have the opportunity to anticipate their adoption at the diplomatic level, at the level of contacts of the leadership of countries. This will help strengthen Ukraine's relations with the Customs Union countries," Azarov noted.

At the same time, he noted that Ukraine is not planning to confine itself only to observer status.

"The Ukrainian government has currently created a group of very competent professionals, which studies the possibility of Ukraine's accession to a number of agreements. And such an analysis is already being made, and once it is completed we will offer our colleagues to set up a negotiating group of a sufficiently high level so as to agree soon which agreements Ukraine will be able to join without changing the text of the agreements themselves," Ukraine’s PM emphasized.