Polish Prime Minister: Ukraine Plays a Key Role in the Grand European Project

KYIV, Ukraine, September 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk noted that Ukraine advanced the furthest in the process of integration with the European Union of all the countries of the Eastern Partnership. The high official expressed this opinion after his meeting with the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday, September 29, 2011, during the Eastern Partnership Summit that currently takes place in Poland.

The Polish Prime Minister Tusk noted Ukraine's recent progress in employing European standards and expressed optimism about the latest round of negotiations on the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine. The Polish Prime Minister said that Europe along with Warsaw had approved Ukraine's political determination to integrate with the rest of Europe. The politician reckoned that Ukraine's journey westward would come to an end quite soon with the Association agreement signed by the end of the year.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Tusk, President Yanukovych emphasized the importance of including of the European perspective for Ukraine in the text of the Association agreement. The Ukrainian leader said that the work on the economic integration of Ukraine, Poland, and the rest of Europe was going on for the sake of providing favorable conditions for business development, guaranteeing the free movement of goods, capital and people.

"Poland continues to support the European aspirations of Ukraine, our most important neighbor," said the President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski during his meeting with the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.

The President of Ukraine also held meetings with other top European politicians - the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, the Deputy Prime Minister of the UK Nick Clegg, the Prime Minister of Ireland Enda Kenny, the Prime Minister of South Korea Kim Hwang-Sik, and the Prime Minister of Portugal Pedro Passos Coelho.

Nick Clegg noted that Ukraine has the potential to become the European giant due to its vast agricultural and energy resources. The British Deputy PM emphasized the necessity to build market economy and introduce democratic standards in order to put that potential to use.