The European Union has fully opened its market for Ukrainian goods and services with about 98% of duties nullified.
The measures will be in effect until November 1. The European Commission hopes that by this time a free trade agreement will be signed with Ukraine, which is part of the Association Agreement, news agency Ukrinform reports.
According to EU estimates, the free trade agreement can save Ukraine about EUR 500 million on duties a year.
On March 21, 2014 Ukraine signed the political part of the Association Agreement with the EU. The parties also signed an additional document, the so-called final act, under which a temporary, pending the approval by the parliaments of Ukraine and the EU Member States, implementation of the political agreement begins immediately.
The economic part will come into force after the completion of the electoral process in Ukraine between the summer 2014 and the beginning of summer 2015. Additional document may be signed even in the absence of leaders, at the technical level.
The European Union also unilaterally waived any fees for export of Ukrainian goods to the EU and deferred the issue on the removal of these fees from goods that enter the territory of Ukraine.
It is to be recalled that on May 13 the Ukrainian government and the European Commission signed documents on the allocation of 1 billion euros in macro-financial assistance, as well as financial assistance for state-building processes.
