Ukraine-EU trade grew by 13% for nine months of 2019

“The association agreement has produced concrete results. Confirmation: bilateral trade grew by 13% for the first nine months of 2019 compared to 2018. To date, the trade turnover with the EU countries accounts for 41.5% of Ukraine's total trade turnover,” Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine Tymofiy Mylovanov posted on Facebook, commenting on the sixth meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council held recently in Brussels.

He noted that a comprehensive free trade area should be launched in a timely manner to improve trade.

“It is necessary to eliminate things which hinder EU-Ukraine trade. For the EU, it’s a ban on timber exports from Ukraine. For us, these are EU steel safeguards that harm our economy. From February 1, changes will be introduced in trade preferences for poultry meat and processed poultry meat provided for in the Association Agreement. This will allow accelerating trade,” the minister noted.

According to him, the deepening of economic integration and regulatory adaptation of Ukraine with the EU will continue in such sectors as digital economy, trade facilitation and customs cooperation.

At the same time, Ukraine accelerated the harmonization of domestic legislation with the EU legal system. In particular, legislation on the protection of intellectual property at customs and geographical names was adapted to protect intellectual property rights.

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