Ukraine and the Federal Republic of Germany demonstrate a high level of cooperation, jointly put in practice a number of initiatives aimed at implementing EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and are also committed to deepening sectoral cooperation.

This was discussed during the negotiations between the Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman. On the day before, the Heads of Government opened the third German-Ukrainian business forum which became the key event of the "Ukrainian Economic Week in Berlin".

Economy has become one of the topics of bilateral negotiations because Germany is the number one Ukraine’s partner country in Europe and one of the five largest world trading partners.

Volodymyr Groysman stressed that today the Government  outlined 5 key priorities, in particular, to increase economic growth, to create favorable conditions for business development, to ensure the rule of law, to fight corruption, to improve the quality of public administration and public services, and to restore the security of the state and citizens.

"Ukraine has proved itself to be an open country, and German business is interested in working here. Ukraine is taken as a place where investments can and should be leveraged", said Angela Merkel.

"We have embarked on an effective and comprehensive reform of the energy industry. And here the interaction with European, in particular, German partners, is key. We are interested in joint implementation of projects for diversification of energy sources and enhancement of Ukraine's energy security", stressed Volodymyr Groysman.

In this regard, he proposed to scale up discussions on joint management of the Ukrainian gas transit system, which is a reliable and effective means of transporting Russian gas to European consumers.

The parties also touched upon the situation in the Sea of Azov and in Donbas.

"I want to encourage Ukraine and urge you not to abandon the course of reforms. I want to thank the Head of Government for Your contribution to the transformations in Ukraine", said Angela Merkel. "And here the issue of sanctions is fundamental. It was for a reason that we have imposed those. We have demonstrated that countries bordering Russia have the right to their own development. Ukraine adopted a decision to be independent, including Crimea and Donbas. And we have provided Ukraine with assurance under the Budapest memorandum. Hence, now we are obliged to fulfill our promise."