KIEV, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) — Ukraine and the European Union agreed to deepen their relations and cooperation at the 24th Ukraine-EU summit held in Kiev on Friday, according to a joint statement issued following the event.
The statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was published by the Ukrainian presidential press service.
According to the document, Ukraine and the EU reiterated their commitment to further deepening their relationship and promoting Ukraine’s further integration with the bloc.
The parties also voiced their intention to fully exploit the potential of the Association Agreement, which entered into force on Sept. 1, 2017, to establish conditions for enhanced economic and trade partnership.
Kiev and Brussels will cooperate in the implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area to ease Ukraine’s access to the EU’s internal market, the statement said.
Besides, the EU will consider Ukraine’s request to extend the temporary preferential trade regime, which abolishes tariffs and quotas on Ukrainian industrial goods and foods, and will expire on June 5.
The EU will support Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan and the idea of a peace formula summit aiming at launching its implementation, the statement said.
Ukraine welcomes the EU’s commitment to continue providing political and military support as long as it takes, which includes military assistance of more than 3.6 billion euros under the European Peace Facility, and the launch of the EU Military Assistance Mission to train an initial 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers in 2023.
The one-day Ukraine-EU summit was held in Kiev earlier in the day. In June 2022, EU leaders accepted Ukraine as a candidate for membership in the bloc. ■
