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EU commissioner to discuss EU-Ukraine summit preparation

During the visit the main attention will be given to the preparations for the EU-Ukraine summit that is to be held in Brussels on February 25

KIEV, February 7 (Itar-Tass) – European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule on Thursday is beginning a visit to Ukraine. The EU office in the country reported that the visit program includes meetings with government officials, heads of committees of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), with students and professors of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy.

During the visit the main attention will be given to the preparations for the EU-Ukraine summit that is to be held in Brussels on February 25, as well as Kiev’s readiness to meet the preliminary conditions necessary for the conclusion of the country’s Association Agreement with the European Union. These conditions include the improvement of the electoral system and judicial systems reform, ensuring the rule of law and a number of other important internal reforms within the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda.

On the eve of the visit of European Commissioner Fule, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara at a meeting with journalists expressed the hope that the association agreement “will be signed, regardless of whether there are any additional issues in our bilateral relations.” He named November this year as a possible date for concluding the agreement – when the Eastern Partnership meeting is planned in Vilnius. “I think that the association agreement itself is a great political value for both Ukraine and the European Union, regardless of the other issues,” Kozhara stressed.

Fule on the eve of his visit to Kiev said that his aim is “to get a more detailed picture of the situation in the country on the eve of the summit.” “I also emphasise the importance of strengthening bilateral relations in order to make Europe a stable, united and prosperous continent,” he stressed. “I’m going to see the steps that are being taken in accordance with Ukraine’s European aspirations towards the development of the political system and economic integration for the modernisation of the country, restructuring its economy and strengthening democracy and the rule of law for the benefit of Ukrainian citizens.”

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