Visegrad Four Ready to Assist Ukraine's European Integration

KYIV, Ukraine, July 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

The Visegrad countries are interested in Ukraine's successful European integration, especially in signing the Association Agreement with the EU in Vilnius. This was announced by the Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic at July 3, Visegrad Four Summit in Polish Wisla. The four Central European countries were ready to assist Ukraine in achieving this important goal, added Gasparovic, as reported by ru.euronews.com.

Ukraine's European integration became the main topic for discussion between the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the leaders of the Visegrad Four. The participating European presidents were above all interested in bilateral preparations for the upcoming signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement (AA), planned for November, 2013.

Ukraine is ready to timely fulfill all the requirements suggested by Brussels in order to sign the AA, stressed President Yanukovych: "We understand that the Action Plan, agreed by Ukraine and the European Commission, should be implemented before November. We are ready to meet all the requirements for a planned Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius." According to the Ukrainian leader, the country will adopt most of the planned legislation in the course of this plenary week of July 1-7, 2013.

The meeting of the Visegrad Four leaders started on July 2, 2013. Janos Ader (Hungary), Bronislaw Komorowski (Poland), Ivan Gasparovic (Slovakia) and Milos Zeman (Czech Republic) gathered to sum up the chairmanship of Warsaw in the organization, as well as to discuss the goals and priorities of Budapest, which is next in line for chairing the Central European association. They also focused on such issues as EU enlargement and the Eastern Neighborhood initiative.

President Yanukovych joined the meeting on July 3, 2013. Ukraine's enhanced involvement in the Visegrad Group's activities for promoting cooperation in the region was also on the meeting's agenda. For instance, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski announced the signing of a Memorandum on creating the Visegrad Group gas market. "It is important in the context of energy security and cheaper purchase of energy. It is also an interesting experience in the context of Ukrainian situation in the issue of energy security and gas transportation," he commented, reads president.gov.ua. Ukraine's leader expressed gratitude to Polish and Slovak Presidents for their support in the issue of Ukraine's energy security.