President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has welcomed the Ukrainians with the entry into force of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states on the one hand and Ukraine on the other.

"September 1, 2017 is the day that will forever go down in the history of our strong and independent Ukraine. Today, the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU comes into force," Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page on Friday morning.

He recalled that an in-depth and comprehensive free trade zone of Ukraine with the European Union has been functioning from the beginning of 2016.

"Since January 1, 2016, we have an in-depth and comprehensive free trade zone functioning with the European Union. The foreign trade in goods and services of Ukraine with the EU countries has grown by 22% during six months of this year. Almost 40% of our trade is accounted for the European Union. A historical change of the geographical structure of Ukrainian exports has taken place in favor of increasing its volume to the EU countries. This is already irreversible processes of integration of the Ukrainian economy to the EU market," the Ukrainian president said.

Earlier, EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Hugues Mingarelli, said that from September 1, the Association Agreement would enter the stage of its implementation, which would "promote the policy of association and integration of the Ukrainian economy into the European market."

Since 2014, the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU has operated in a limited amount.

The political part of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement was signed on March 21, 2014 during the Brussels summit. The first signatures from the EU were put by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The first signature from the Ukrainian side was put by the then Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

The economic part of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, which provides for the creation of a free trade zone (FTA), was signed on June 27, 2014 at the EU summit in Brussels. On the European side, the document was signed by Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Ukrainian side was signed by President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

Poroshenko called signing the Association Agreement with the European Union one of the most important days in the history of the Ukrainian state.

To enter into force, the Association Agreement should be ratified by all 28 EU member states and Ukraine.

The European Parliament ratified the Association Agreement in sync with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on September 16, 2014. Voting in two parliaments was broadcast in a videoconference via a TV link-up.

Romania, Lithuania and Latvia were the first of the EU member states to ratify the document, the last - Cyprus, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, the issue of ratifying the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine was submitted to a consultative referendum on which, on April 6, 2016, 61% of the Dutch voted against it. However, the results of the referendum are not binding on the Dutch government. As a result, the lower house of the Parliament of the Netherlands ratified the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement on February 23, 2017, and the Senate of the Netherlands (upper house) did it on May 30.

After the ratification of the Association Agreement by the Parliament of the Netherlands, all legislative obstacles that blocked the official launch of the Ukraine-EU Association were lifted. The Netherlands sent ratification documents to the EU, and on July 11, 2017, the Council of the European Union announced the completion of all formalities in the ratification process, since the last instrument of ratification was deposited.

After that, the document comes into force on the first day of the second month after the completion of all procedures - September 1, 2017.