Ukraine, Switzerland sign agreements on visa liberalization, readmission

Ukraine and Switzerland have signed agreements on simplification of visa regime and readmission within the framework of the visit of Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter to Kyiv.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin stated this at a briefing on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We have just signed two agreements. I signed the agreement on simplification of the visa regime, and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov signed the agreement on readmission," Klimkin said.

He noted that the visa issues with Switzerland had so far been settled in such a way that it worked "at the same level as that with the European Union". The Minister added that the parties discussed the bilateral agenda and cooperation within the framework of international organizations.

In turn, Burkhalter recalled that Switzerland remained to be one of the few large investors in Ukraine. He also noted that one of the priorities for his country now was the return of illegally acquired assets to Ukraine. The Swiss Foreign Minister stressed the asset recovery was a very long process despite the good relations between the countries.

"We are doing everything possible to help the judiciary achieve a positive result. Ukraine needs to decide from a judicial point of view who is the depositor of those assets in Switzerland, and the process will advance much faster then," Burkhalter said.

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