The European Union will cancel customs duties on Ukrainian goods from April 23 this year, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"If we immediately start the delivery of our goods from the second ten days of this month, then our exporters will additionally receive about EUR 500 million," he said at a meeting with representatives of business circles in Kyiv.

The premier noted that the application of automatic trade preferences would begin from April 23, 2014 after publication in the official bulletin of the EU and would last until November 1.

Yatseniuk instructed the responsible agencies to hold consultations with manufacturers in the regions so that everybody could clearly understand the mechanisms to take advantage of the new prospects.

"It's high time for very quick and concrete decisions. Ukrainian businesses requested to open the doors of the European economy, we opened these doors, and now we need to enter, even not enter but run very quickly. Indeed, if we do not occupy this market, it will be occupied by competitors," said the prime minister.