Ukraine’s strategic aim is to sign association agreement with EU

The status of an observer in the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan would help Ukraine step up cooperation with these countries, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Vilkul said. Interviewed on local television on Friday, Vilkul said at the same time that Ukraine’s strategic aim remained unchanged. “It is the signing of an agreement of association with the European Union and the creation of a free trade zone with the EU,” he explained. At the same time Kiev should look for formats of cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union, Vilkul believes. He also pointed out that Ukraine was making itself ready for signing an agreement of association with the EU. The chief of the presidential staff’s international relations department, Andrei Goncharuk, said on television that by signing the memorandum of deeper interaction with the Eurasian Economic Commission Ukraine had not changed its Euro-integration course. “Our policy has remained unchanged,” he said.