Ukraine hopes to sign common aviation area agreement at summit with EU

"The EU-Ukraine summit will take place during Germany's presidency [of the Council of the European Union] on October 1. This has already been confirmed. We would very much like to finally sign a common aviation area agreement within the framework of this summit. As you know, this agreement was initialled in 2013, but there was a problematic issue concerning Gibraltar, and we very much hope that this issue would be finally settled and the wording acceptable to all parties would be agreed upon by the European Commission and Spain," Director of the EU and NATO Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Maryna Mykhaylenko said during online discussion called "Germany's presidency of the Council of the European Union: What can Ukraine expect?", an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The official added that the signing of this agreement within the framework of the summit was very important for Ukraine.

As a reminder, the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) agreement between the EU and third countries sets common safety standards and liberalizes market relations in the field of aviation, allowing more efficient and safer use of airspace.

Negotiations on the ECAA with Ukraine were completed in 2013, but the signing of the agreement was blocked due to the UK-Spain conflict over the status of Gibraltar airport.

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