Within the scope of the talks on cooperation for development between the Governments of Ukraine and the Federal Republic of Germany Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna stressed that the new coalition agreement in Germany will strengthen economic cooperation between our countries.

"For us, it is an important signal that Germany views Ukraine as one of its strategic partners in the areas of energy security, innovation, climate change and green transformation. There is a business demand to step up cooperation between our countries and we are seeing more and more Ukrainian companies enter the German market. According to our estimates, progress in the implementation of the Association Agreement reaches 60% - this is also a good signal for European companies that the Ukrainian regulatory environment is gradually aligning with the norms and rules in force in the EU," Olha Stefanishyna underlined.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that Germany traditionally ranks first among Ukraine’s trading partners in Europe, and is also one of the five largest foreign investors with a share of almost 5% of total foreign direct investment in Ukraine.

Olha Stefanishyna also dwelled on the similarity of the environmental aspect in the new coalition agreement in Germany and the policy of the Government of Ukraine and recalled that Ukraine under the Paris Agreement has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030.

This decision was approved amid the global crisis with the pricing of energy resources, Russia's military aggression and the constant escalation in Donbas. However, such a step is in line with the spirit of our European integration aspirations. Achieving these goals will require multilateral cooperation, integration of energy markets and access to appropriate funding. In this matter, we hope for the support of German partners," Olha Stefanishyna underscored.

The Deputy Prime Minister placed an emphasis on the fact that it is also important for Ukraine to support Germany in the process of renewing the Association Agreement, abolishing barriers to trade, signing the ACAA Agreement, Ukraine's accession to the Convention on the Common Transit Procedure, and Ukraine's integration into internal market of the European Union.

Olha Stefanishyna also noted that Ukraine has plans to build border infrastructure to develop social and economic ties with the European Union. At the same time, barriers associated with the limited number of road haulage permits create a number of problems.

"We appealed to the European Commission and invited this institution to act as a mediator in the dialogue on resolving the issue of the number of permits for road freight transport. We also invite Germany to join this dialogue in order to find the right balance in our economic relations, which is expected by the business on both sides of the border, "the Deputy Prime Minister stated.

Negotiations in the framework of development cooperation between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany are held annually to identify priority areas for further cooperation. At present, 33 technical assistance projects funded by Germany are being implemented in Ukraine with a total contract value of 286.2 million euros.