The Mission of the European Commission to Ukraine has disclosed to UNIAN that the European Union begins talks with Ukraine on a complex agreement on creating a free trade zone.

According to the EC representative office, in 2006, the European Commission proposed Ukraine to conclude a new enhanced agreement, which would stipulate carrying out talks on creating a free trade zone for intensifying integration of the two economics. A membership in the World Trade Organization was an essential condition to kick off the talks.

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As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine and the European Union have reached a compromise in the sphere of export duties, having overcome the last obstacle on the way to WTO.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said this in a telephone interview from London to UNIAN’s own correspondent in Brussels.

According to P.Mandelson, he was very pleased to say that they reached a decision on the basis of compromise, and they may celebrate the removal of the last obstacle on the Ukraine’s way to WTO. He noted that in the course of the talks, Ukraine, in particular, agreed to restrict the number of existing export duties, and not to increase them in future. P.Mandelson did not go into any other detail, adding that this day became extremely important for Ukraine and EU.

The issue of export duties was the last to be decided by Ukraine at the talks with EU, for Ukraine to become a WTO member. EU pressed to cancel all the export duties, and Ukraine, in its turn, asked to introduce a moratorium on introducing new ones, and not to increase existing export duties.