Ukraine and Russia actively prepare free trade agreement

The first documents within the framework of the preparation of a bilateral agreement on the establishment of a free trade zone will be signed during a meeting between government delegations of Ukraine and Russia in Moscow on March 6-7, 2003. Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich told one of the Ukrainian newspapers that the coming meeting would seriously boost the process of establishment of the free trade zone.

Agreements covering aspects on which the parties made the most substantial progress during the work of specialized task groups, led by deputy prime ministers of Ukraine and Russia, will be signed during a meeting between Yanukovich and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Yanukovich underlined that the implementation of the Ukrainian-Russian documents would increase the volume of trade between the two countries. "Establishment of a free trade zone is the most important task for the government in the short term," Yanukovich remarked.