Ukraine agrees to observer status in Customs Union
By Aynur Jafarova
Ukraine and members of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have agreed on Kiev's observer status in the trade bloc, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told media, RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday.
"In my view, the decision has already been made and the issue is the technical formulation," Azarov said.
He said the meetings with the representatives of Kazakhstan and Belarus have been held and now technical issues are being worked out.
"We have established a working group within the government for the preparation of documents, which should be signed by the presidents. We have agreed and currently technical negotiations on formulations are being completed. We will be observers in the Customs Union, we will have a representation under the Eurasian Economic Commission, and accordingly the head of the representation will have an opportunity to attend the meetings of the board of the Eurasian Union and to join the preparation of documents. However, he will not have a voting right," he said.
Azarov confirmed the report on possible signing of the documents on the observer status of Ukraine at the meeting of the presidents scheduled for late May.
Ukraine, which has declared a strategic course toward European integration, plans to sign an association agreement with the EU at the end of 2013. At the same time, Kiev has announced its aim to join some regulations of the CU. Moscow has offered Kiev to join the CU, promising in return to supply energy resources for concessional prices. The Ukrainian government proposes cooperation with the union in a "three plus one" format, i.e. involving Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan plus Ukraine.
In January, President Victor Yanukovych said that Ukraine should consider adaptation of laws to some norms of the CU, which would not contradict the country's international obligations.
The president noted that Ukraine is interested in cooperation with the CU member states.
"The CU member states are important export markets for the Ukrainian goods and the trade turnover of Ukraine with this organization exceeds $60 billion," Yanukovych added.
Earlier in December of last year Azarov said that Ukraine's cooperation with the CU is not a political issue and is based on economic expediency.
"For our economy it is vital to agree with and interact with the CU member states, and there is absolutely no politics involved here. But when political speculations begin over this, [with some saying that] you want to join the Customs Union but not the European Union, this is no good for our country. I have always been against such comparisons. [But] in both cases we are guided by economic interests."
Valery Muntiyan, the Ukrainian governmental envoy for cooperation with Russia, the CIS and the Eurasian Economic Community member states, said that Ukraine may join the protocol on the formation of the CU in July 2013.