EU Council of Justice Ministers to consider decision to grant action plan on visa-free regime for Ukrainians on June 3

A decision on granting an action plan on a visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens should be taken at a meeting of the EU Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs, which will take place in Luxembourg on June 3, 2010.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko said this at a meeting of the Ukrainian part of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council, the Ukrainian government's press service reported.

He said that the action plan would be drawn up by the European Commission and was expected to be approved at the Ukraine-EU summit in October this year.

During the meeting, the sides also discussed the EU-Ukraine negotiation process, in particular, an association agreement and agreement on the creation of a free trade area.

Hryschenko also noted progress in the drafting of the association agreement. Among the main results of the meeting, he pointed to the readiness of the parties to lay the foundation for the further development of Ukraine-EU relations, as well as switch from partnership to political association and economic integration. He said that talks on the creation of a free trade area had been significantly stepped up.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, in turn, stressed the need to strengthen in parliament the process of passing laws required for the signing of these agreements. He said that the Verkhovna Rada should adopt basic documents in the next two to three weeks before the parliamentary recess.

The participants in the meeting also discussed some aspects of an agreement on a common aviation area.

The heads of ministries and departments were instructed to prepare for the visit of the Ukrainian delegation headed by Azarov to the EU to participate in a joint meeting of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council, which is to be held in Luxembourg on June 15, 2010.