Yanukovych: Choosing EU not reduces attention to Eurasian direction

By choosing the European direction of development as the main direction, the Ukrainian state is not reducing attention to the Eurasian direction as an important area of national interests, President’s annual address to the Verkhovna Rada on the domestic and foreign situation in Ukraine in 2013 reads.

“It is no secret that the search by Ukraine for its own vision and approaches to cooperation with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan does not always find proper support from its partners. However, the question of Ukraine’s participation in the Eurasian integration project should be resolved taking into account our country’s commitments within the protocol of accession to the WTO and the draft Association Agreement with the European Union,” address reads, Interfax reports.

According to the President, the national interests of Ukraine provide for combination of the European integration vector with the consistent implementation of its national interests in the Eurasian direction, the active use of the CIS format.

 

"Ukraine and Russia are independent subjects of international law, the leading states of the former Soviet Union. Stability not only in the region but also on the continent as a whole depends on mutual understanding and partnership between these states,"  the document says.

The President expects that the next summit of the Eastern Partnership initiative in Vilnius in the autumn of 2013 will produce significant practical results for the development of relations between Ukraine and the European Union, especially in the issue of signing the Association Agreement.

In President’s opinion, the practical value of signing the agreement should be the creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area, “which will envisage the harmonious integration of the Ukrainian economy into the EU common market.”

In addition, the President names the introduction of visa-free travel of our citizens to the EU one of the most important issues in EU-Ukraine relations for the Ukrainian society.