May 12 2005, 17:06 APK-Inform

Ukraine and Moldova to ratify free trade agreement soon

Ukraine and Moldova intend to ratify a free trade agreement soon. This was declared during the meeting of the two countries' Prime Ministers Yuliya Timoshenko and Vasile Tarlev on May 12, press centre of Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers informed.

Ukraine is also interested in signing a bilateral protocol about access to goods and services market within the framework of Ukraine's WTO accession.

The parties also discussed the issues of regulating joint customs control procedures for cross-border passage of goods. According to previous agreements, 5 new cross-border points must start working on the Ukrainian-Moldavian frontier from July 1, 2005. However, the situation remains difficult at Pridnestrovye section of the borderline, because of political instability in the breakaway region. According to the two prime-ministers' opinion, this problem can be solved by a new customs supervision procedure of export and import operations to be worked out jointly.