KYIV. April 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has ratified a loan agreement between Ukraine and the European Investment Bank (EIB) on lending EUR 200 million to Ukraine under the Early Recovery Framework Loan (Ukraine) programme.
A total of 263 MPs voted for the ratification on Wednesday.
A draft bill on the ratification of the agreement was tabled by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in parliament on April 10.
As reported, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk and EIB Vice President Laszlo Baranyay on December 22, 2014 signed an agreement on lending EUR 200 million to Ukraine under the Early Recovery Framework Loan (Ukraine) programme.
The EIB board approved the project on December 16, while the Ukrainian government endorsed it on December 19.
The objective of the loan, which is raised by the Ukrainian government, is to address short-term needs in affected areas controlled by the government of Ukraine, and basic infrastructure needs to shelter internally displaced people in other regions of Ukraine, the EIB said.
KYIV. April 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU has been fully ratified by 14 states, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis has said.
At a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday, he named these countries: Bulgaria, Great Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Sweden.
The agreement was ratified by the parliaments and submitted to head of state for signature in Luxembourg, Finland and Spain. In Germany, Czech Republic and the Netherlands the agreement was ratified by one of the houses of parliament. In Austria, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovenia and France the preparations for the ratification continue.
“We are grateful to those states which have ratified the agreement, and hope that the rest of the EU member states will speed up the ratification of the agreement in order to complete the entire process in 2015,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
KYIV. April 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Union isn’t considering any further postponement or review of the implementation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area agreement with Ukraine (DCFTA), Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Jan Tombinski has said.
Speaking to Interfax-Ukraine on the results of trilateral talks between Ukraine, the EU and Russia, he said that the European Commission is ready to consider Russia’s concerns in detail and try to find a solution regarding these aspects within the framework of the flexible, deep and comprehensive free trade area agreement. However, neither the further postponement of the implementation of the DCFTA nor the review of the DCFTA agreement is on the agenda, he said.
The trilateral technical negotiations were held over the past two days, Tombinski said. The purpose of the negotiations was to discuss answers to Russian concerns about the DCFTA, which was part of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. The sides presented their viewpoints and reached an understanding on some issues, he said, adding that certain matters were referred to the political level.
Tombinski said that the European Commission views tripartite negotiations as a form of EU support of the Minsk agreements. The European Commission has always said that it is prepared to do the utmost, including providing political support for the trilateral process, to accelerate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, he said.
