The 5th meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Committee has ended in Brussels (Belgium).

Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Dmytro Kuleba, on the outcomes of the meeting and a number of bilateral meetings, emphasized that the next step for consolidating and formalizing these results would be a meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council due to be held in Brussels in the near future.

"The main thing that we are striving for and in what our European partners support us is the accelerating of integration with the EU in the areas in what Ukrainian citizens and Ukrainian businesses feel they can compete. We want to get an industrial free visa regime for Ukrainian industrial goods, simplification of customs procedures and conditions for doing business, to ensure harmonization of our markets and major spheres of life with European norms and rules as soon as possible," Dmytro Kuleba said.

As told by Acting Director General of the Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the CMU, Julia Horiacha, who had led the Ukrainian delegation consisting of representatives from more than 20 ministries and agencies, the team of Ukrainian officials managed to achieve good results during the Association Committee’s meeting. "We have come to a full understanding of the priorities on which we will be working in synergy with our partners. A decision to involve the Directorates-General of the European Commission in the process of updating the Association Agreement in priority areas on an ongoing basis has been approved. This is an instrument of real sectoral integration of Ukraine into EU markets," Julia Horiacha said.

The Parties have agreed to take efforts with regard to the upcoming meeting of the Association Council towards facilitation of sectoral integration of Ukraine into the EU in the following areas: digital, energy, justice and home affairs, customs as well as launching the negotiation process on ACAA Agreement (Agreements on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Goods, the so-called industrial free visa regime).

The EU and UA have reached a common understanding on updating of the Association Agreement in priority areas according to the latest developments of the EU law and current enhanced state of bilateral cooperation, to strengthen joint monitoring mechanism of the approximation process in this respect.

The EU side has welcomed the initiatives of Ukraine with respect to formalizing of the New JFS Agenda and introducing new Annex to Chapter III “Justice, freedom and security” of the Association Agreement. The legal aspects of their realization, including the achievement of a principal agreement on the scope of the proposed Annex at the Association Council meeting, will be worked out in the near future.

The EU side is interested in launching of the regular bilateral dialogue on cybersecurity. Moreover, the EU side is ready to launch the hybrid-risk survey for Ukraine as soon as Ukraine accepts this proposal.

The EU side has agreed to facilitate resolving of practical issues related to implementation of updated Annex XXVII to the Association Agreement and has welcomed in this respect the draft Guidelines on implementation of Annex XXVII, prepared and submitted by the UA side.

The UA side has expressed its particular interest in being a reliable partner in moving forward the “hot” priority of the European Commission – the New Green Deal.

The EU side has agreed to sign the Common Aviation Agreement and amend it afterwards according to the proposals of the UA side.

The EU side welcomes the Ukrainian initiative to promote the regional dimension of the European integration in Ukraine, in particular, the establishment of European integration offices in regions as centers aimed at maximum involvement of regions into the EU educational, scientific, cultural, business projects/programs.

The EU side has taken due notice of the request of Ukraine regarding the provision of trainings for Ukrainian civil servants at the College of Europe and underlined that the necessary budget for this initiative has already been foreseen with practical steps of its realization being underway.

The EU side is ready to start negotiations with Ukraine on conclusion of the relevant Agreement with EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) on enlargement of service area over the territory of Ukraine, having already prepared draft of the document.

The EU side commends UA’s substantial contribution within the framework of Eastern Partnership.