{"id":1053,"date":"2017-07-14T15:29:19","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T13:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fondazionekian.com\/?p=1053"},"modified":"2017-07-14T15:29:19","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T13:29:19","slug":"positive-results-from-the-european-union-ukraine-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondazionekian.com\/?p=1053&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Positive results from the european Union – Ukraine summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 19th Summit between the european Union and Ukraine took place in Kyiv. The summi took place against the backdrop of the finalisation of the ratification of the European Union – Ukraine Association agreement.<\/p>\n

It took place exactly one month and two days after the historic celebrations of visa free travel for Ukrainian citizens with a biometric passport to the Schengen area.<\/p>\n

The President of the european Commission with the President of the european Council, are represented the european Union in front of the Ukrainian President Poroshenko.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the joint press conference, the President of the european Commission said:<\/p>\n

More steps have been taken in the last three years than in the previous twenty.<\/p>\n

Ukraine should be proud of what it has achieved<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In order to continue to implement all the benckmarks of its visa liberalisation action plan, European and Ukrainian citizens will have the opportunity for increased interactions and contacts, bringing our populations closer than ever before.<\/p>\n

In the first month, over 95.000 Ukraininan citizens visited the Schengen area under the new conditions.<\/p>\n

Since the last Eu- Ukraine summit, which took place in Brussels in November 2016, a significant amount of progress has been made, bringing positive change to the lives of Ukrainian and european citizens.<\/p>\n

The ratification of the Association agreement, including the deep and comprehensive free trade area, two days ago, will mean its full entry into force on 1 September 2017. The association agreemet provides the blueprint for Ukraine’s ambitious reform path and fosters trade and investment between the european Union and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

After ore than one year of provisional application of the Association agreement, trade has grown by 10%, cementing the european Union as Ukraine’s first trading partner.<\/p>\n

In addition, leaders welcomed the political agreement to grant autonomous trade measures for Ukraine, which would further boost bilaterla trade through the elimination of additional tariffs and customs duties on agricultural and industrial products.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the leaders assessed the state of play in Ukraine’s implementation of its ambitious reform efforts. The Ukrainian authorities have undertaken intense and unprecedented reforms in many areas, including decentralisation, public broadcasting, anti-corruption, the judiciary, police reform, and so on.<\/p>\n

This has been achieved despite severe security challenges caused by the ongoing conflict in the east of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

At the Summit, european leaders stressed the importance of continuing such efforts and strengthening the implementation of reforms in crucial areas such as anti-corruption.<\/p>\n

In this context, the Summit provided the European Union and Ukraine to identify further reform priorities for the coming months and years and the President Poroshendo outlined the Stategy 2020 and the Government’s Action plan 2017-2020.<\/p>\n

Both sides agreed on the importance of continuing to accelerate reforms and their sustained implementation.<\/p>\n

The european Union is dedicating unprecedented support to Ukraine, which is linked to Ukraine’s continued reform efforts.<\/p>\n

At the Summit, the European Union announced the preparation of \u20ac200 million of priority programmes for 2017 to<\/p>\n