An agreement on the creation of a free trade area (FTA) within the CIS is strategically important for Ukraine, and it will effectively work for the benefit of all CIS member states, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Andriy Kliuyev has said.

He said that owing to the mechanisms that include the agreement, Ukrainian producers are expanding their opportunities on access to the CIS market. He recalled that the CIS market was the largest market for Ukrainian goods. In 2011, it accounted for 42% of Ukraine's foreign trade turnover, or $72 billion.

Kliuyev also noted that the CIS market was especially important for Ukraine, because the lion's share of Ukrainian products with high added value, mainly engineering products, is supplied to CIS countries.

He noted that participation in the CIS FTA agreement was already producing concrete results for Ukraine. He recalled that after the ratification of the agreement, the Russian government had decided to introduce amendments to the agreement on pipe supplies to the countries of the Customs Union (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan). This will have a positive impact and give significant results as 50,000 people employed in the industry will have jobs, and the country will receive at least $400 million in foreign exchange earnings, Kliuyev said.

He recalled that according to experts, the effect of the CIS FTA agreement could in the medium term help increase industrial production in Ukraine by 3.5-4% and increase GDP by an additional 2.5% per year. The acceleration of growth in a number of industrial branches will lead to an increase in employment and the growth of population's income and revenues to the state budget, Kliuyev said.

KyivPost