KIEV, June 21 (Itar-Tass) - Preparations for signing the Association Agreement and European integration will be in the focus of Friday’s talks between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara and his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle, who has arrived in Kiev on a brief visit.
“I told my German colleague what had been in Ukraine within preparations for signing the Association Agreement and what the country failed to do,” Kozhara told journalists.
“We consider Germany’s role extremely important. It is our strategic partner. Germany’s position will be decisive while discussing the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. That is why we seek mutual understanding on bilateral and multilateral issues,” the Ukrainian minister said.
He named the talks “very useful to clarify the positions of Ukraine, Germany and the EU”.
For his part, Westerwelle said Germany considered Ukraine “an inalienable part of Europe and the bridge between the East and the West”. Now Ukraine enters on the important path and “it [Ukraine] is now on the historical turning and we’d like the country to choose integration into Europe”, the German foreign minister said.
Commenting on the fate of Ukrainian former premier Yulia Timoshenko, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of office in relation to a 2009 gas deal with Russia, Westerwelle said,” Germany’s proposal on Timoshenko’s medical service and medical treatment remains in force.”
The Timoshenko issue is raised regularly while discussing Ukraine’s European integration when EU representatives pointed to “selective justice” as one of the obstacles to signing the Association Agreement.