Ukraine, EU start talks on free trade zone

Kyiv, February 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko and European Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson announced at a meeting that talks on the creation of a free trade zone between Ukraine and the European Union have formally begun in Kyiv on Monday.

"A landmark event takes place today in Kyiv. We have officially announced the beginning of talks on a profound free trade zone," Yuschenko said at a meeting with Mandelson in the extended format.

The president stressed that the main goal of Ukraine is to reach a political decision on the creation of free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU by this September.

The process, which started today, deals not only with commodity and investment flows, Mandelson said. It is a sign of Ukraine's political and economic integration in the world economy and the strengthening of partnership with the EU, he said.

The EU-Ukraine trade relationship was worth 26.6 billion euros ($A43 billion) in 2006, according to the European Commission, the bloc's executive body. The EU replaced Russia as Ukraine's main trade commercial partner in 2006 and now accounts for about a third of its external trade.