Ukraine hopes for additional growth of its GDP by 2.5 percent a year after an agreement on a CIS free trade zone will enter into force, the secretary of Ukraine's Council of National Security and Defense, Andrei Klyuyev, said on Thursday.

"In the medium term the agreement on a free trade zone within the CIS may help to boost Ukraine's industrial production by 3.5-4 percent and the GDP growth additionally by 2.5 percent a year. The growth in some industries will help to increase employment and revenues of the population and the state budget," he said.

Klyuyev expressed an opinion that the CIS is a promising and financially reliable market, where 200 million consumers reside and its GDP growth rates exceed those of the European Union several times.

Ukraine conducts consultations and drafts agreements to sign free trade deals with Canada, Israel, Morocco and other promising trade partners, he said expressing confidence that free trade agreements with some countries will simplify an access to important goods markets lifting tariff barriers.

In particular, Canada's import duty may reduce from 4.7 percent to 1.7 percent, Morocco's - from 21.4 percent to 1.4 percent, Egypt's - from 17.3 percent to 2.1 percent, Serbia's - from 9.4 percent to 0.4 percent.

Moreover, Klyuyev noted that non-tariff barriers that hamper the entry of Ukraine's goods to important markets can be also lifted through mutual recognition of technical rules, sanitary and phitosanitary norms.

According to Ukraine's Economic Development and Trade Ministry, after the agreement on a free trade zone within CIS enters into force, Ukraine's trade with CIS member-states will go up by 35 percent.

On July 30 Ukraine's parliament ratified the agreement and the president signed the relevant law.


 

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