The agricultural sector in Ukraine is ready to sign a free trade agreement and an association agreement with the EU, which has been confirmed by European experts.

Ukrainian Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk said this at a meeting with European commissioners in Brussels on Tuesday, the press service of the Ukrainian Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry reported.

"We discussed and resolved a number of nuances and concluded that Ukraine and the EU have no issues that would prevent the signing of a free trade agreement and an association agreement with the EU in the agricultural sector. The agricultural sector has done everything to ensure that these two documents were signed," he said.

According to Prysiazhniuk, the EU, in turn, contributed to promoting the products of the Ukrainian agricultural sector on the European market. In the first quarter of this year alone, trade with the EU grew by 46% and reached $2.5 billion.

As for rural development, Ukraine received an opportunity to join the European Neighborhood Program on Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD).

"We are joining the program that exists in the European Union - the ENPARD program, which envisages the development of rural areas and cooperatives in the villages. This program has already yielded results in Europe. Europe has already worked out a program that envisages technical and financial assistance for the creation of cooperatives. And we, after eliminating collective farms, should offer an effective form of management in the villages," the minister said.

Ukrinform