Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on the Belarusian-Kazakh-Russian Customs Union member-states to put aside disagreements and focus on interaction mechanisms in setting up a free trade area between Ukraine and the EU.

"I am absolutely convinced that it would be more productive to dismiss artificial disagreements and the calculation of possible economic losses and focus on interaction mechanisms that would strengthen the potential inherent in integration processes," Poroshenko said at a high-level meeting between the leaders of Ukraine and the Belarusian-Kazakh-Russian Customs Union and European Union representatives in Minsk on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian president said he is sure that the Ukraine-EU association agreement cannot inflict damage on Customs Union members but can only benefit them.

Poroshenko called for the setting up of permanent consultative mechanisms to discuss all issues concerning trade. In particular, he believes it makes sense to set up a monitoring group to register damage in trade with the Customs Union members within the framework of setting up a free trade area between Ukraine and the EU.