The Ukrainian-Bulgarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation would resume its operation after the eight year break, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said after the talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

"We have arranged that in the second half of this year, a meeting of the Joint Ukrainian-Bulgarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, which hasn't been held for eight years, will be conducted," Poroshenko told reporters on Saturday in Kyiv.

He reminded that on the Ukrainian side, the co-chair of the Commission is Minister of Education Liliia Hrynevych.

The president also said that in the first quarter of 2018, trade between the two countries increased by 37%.

"This is a direct proof of an effective application of the deep and comprehensive free trade area between Ukraine and the European Union," the president said.