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Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia sign EU Association Agreements

Association Agreement with the European Union envisages bringing the legislatures of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in line with the EU norms and creating a free trade zone

BRUSSELS, June 27. /ITAR-TASS/. The ceremony of signing Association Agreements with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia has begun at an EU summit in the Belgian capital on Friday.

The ceremony will take more than an hour. Each document must be signed by the heads of state and government of 28 EU member countries, as well as European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Georgia's Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili and Moldova's Prime Minister Iurie Leancă have signed their respective Association Agreements with the EU.

Association Agreement with the European Union envisages bringing the legislatures of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in line with the EU norms and creating a free trade zone. However, the agreement does not make the three countries the members of the EU yet. The document will come into effect after it is ratified by all EU member countries.

Common prosperity will be based only on common values, the principles of democracy, human rights and the supremacy of law, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Friday.

Integration of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine into the common market and visa free formalities will be a strategic goal of the association agreement, Van Rompuy added.

The association agreement is the EU’s most ambitious project with third countries, he said