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  • EU-Ukraine bilateral meetings on external relations start in Brussels
    Service of the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, posted 30 January 2025 14:26

    On 30 January, bilateral meetings between representatives of Ukraine and the European Commission began in Brussels, as part of the official screening of the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU law under Chapter 30, External Relations. These meetings are part of the negotiation process of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

    In her opening remarks, Chief Negotiator, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna stressed that Ukraine was synchronising its policies with the EU and would continue the process of adapting its legislation to EU law.

    “Ukraine remains committed to the process of harmonising its national legislation with EU law in the field of external relations. The pace and scope of these changes will be determined by the dynamics of trade relations with the European Union in the pre-accession period, including existing trade liberalisation measures under the autonomous trade preferences and the Association Agreement. This is a key position of Ukraine, which means that we accept the EU acquis, but the scope and timing of its implementation will depend directly on further decisions taken in this and the following years in the area of trade liberalisation, which will be the subject of separate agreements outside the enlargement process,” Olha Stefanishyna said.

    The Deputy Prime Minister also focused on the development of external relations in the context of humanitarian aid.

    “Ukraine, even during the ongoing full-scale war, not only maintains a high level of fulfilment of its obligations, but also demonstrates its readiness to support other countries, having the proper legal framework and practical experience in providing humanitarian aid,” she added.

    The Ukrainian side is represented by Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine, as well as Oksana Osmachko, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Svitlana Tereshchenko, Deputy Minister of Justice, Yevhen Bragar, MP, Olena Zasypkina, Acting Director of the Department for Foreign Economic Activity and Trade Protection of the Ministry of Economy, Andrii Tkalenko, Director of the State Gemmological Centre of Ukraine, and Oleksandr Ilkov, Director General of the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

    During the bilateral meetings under Chapter 30, External Relations, the Ukrainian delegation will present reports covering the following issues:

    • EU external policy and humanitarian policy;
    • common trade policy;
    • autonomous preferential trade measures;
    • regional/bilateral frameworks for common trade policy;
    • investment.

    Background

    Chapter 30, External Relations, is a part of the negotiating Cluster 6. Its provisions contain acts of EU law, which are mostly directly applicable, arising from the EU’s multilateral and bilateral trade commitments, as well as from a number of autonomous trade measures.