Ukraine and the EU will hold consultations on certain aspects of the future implementation of an Association Agreement only when the sides thoroughly prepare for their implementation, Ukraine's representative to the EU, Ambassador Kostiantyn Yeliseyev, has said.

While answering a question from Interfax-Ukraine in Brussels on Tuesday regarding the state of preparations for such consultations, he said: "In pursuance of the agreements reached during a phone conversation between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on December 2, Ukraine and the EU are in the active stage of preparations for a bilateral discussion on certain aspects of the future implementation of an Association Agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. The consultations will be held only when the sides thoroughly prepare for their implementation."

Yeliseyev said that the format and parameters of such consultations were currently being agreed through diplomatic channels.

"We are grateful to the EU for its constructive position and readiness for dialogue. I hope that this dialogue will help create favorable conditions for the signing in the near future of an Association Agreement, including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area," he said.