Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Prime Minister of Moldova Natalia Gavrilitsa signed an intergovernmental protocol on amendments to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
According to the Ukrainian government’s press service, the amendments to the Free Trade Agreement stipulate that the pan-Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin of goods should be applied in trade between Ukraine and Moldova.
“The transition to these rules of origin of goods unites the Ukrainian and Moldovan Association Agreements with the EU into one system. We made such a step with Georgia a year ago. Now we are uniting the trade regimes of all the states of the Associated Trio among ourselves and with the EU,” the prime minister said.
The head of the Ukrainian government said the pan-Euro-Mediterranean cumulation system allows trading in goods that are produced from components that can originate from all countries in this system.
“This protocol is another step towards the withdrawal of the Associated Trio countries from the trade relations of the CIS and the transition to an EU-centered economy,” Shmyhal said.
In turn, the Prime Minister of Moldova said the Protocol confirms the readiness to promote trade relations between the two countries, in particular on the path of European integration.
Ukraine’s Economic Development and Trade Ministry on Tuesday presented Ukraine’s export brand “Trade with Ukraine,” using which Ukrainian goods and services will be promoted to international markets. An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that the brand was designed under order of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry and the Export Promotion Office of Ukraine with support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The graphic part of the brand is a big letter “U” of blue color with a small circle in the upper part, in which the letters “ua” are inscribed, as well as the slogan “Trade with Ukraine”. At the same time, the first part of the slogan can be transformed depending on the industry, for example: for food industry – “Taste with Ukraine”, machine building – “Manufacture with Ukraine” and creative sphere – “Create with Ukraine”.
“For the first time, Ukrainian goods and services from different sectors will be united by a single visual and emotional context for the promotion of the Ukrainian economy and export development,” the brand’s developers said. During the presentation, the brand platform and the exhibition brand book of Ukraine were also presented.
“The mission of the export brand is to create a powerful brand of Ukraine as a reliable trading partner in the world. This is a platform for building and strengthening the positions of Ukrainian exporters at the global level,” First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv said at the press conference entitled “The launch of the export brand of Ukraine.” According to him, the rating and quality of export brands in the world are interdependent with the export positions of the countries.
“The better the country is known as an exporter, the higher is its rating as the country,” the deputy prime minister said.
The brand’s developers are convinced that the export brand is an important part of the brand of Ukraine, and forms 50% of the country’s brand, influencing on three of its six indicators: goods and services, business climate and tourism. The target groups of the export brand are Ukrainian manufacturers of goods and services, traders, business associations; foreign manufacturing companies, foreign business media; embassies and governments.
