Ukraine and France have all opportunities to increase bilateral trade.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said this at a meeting with senators of the upper house of the French parliament and members of the France-Ukraine friendship group on Monday, a Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"France and Ukraine are two large European countries. At the same time, the potential of our bilateral cooperation, which amounted to about $2.5 billion last year, does not reflect our potential. We have every opportunity to increase it," Azarov said.

He added that the holding of the seventh meeting of the intergovernmental commission, which will be held in December this year, would give a new impetus to trade and economic cooperation.

The head of the France-Ukraine friendship group, Herve Maurey, in turn, said that French senators were paying great attention to the improvement of trade and economic relations with Ukraine. "Trade and economic relations between our countries are very important to us and we're trying to develop them," he said.

At the same time, Herve noted that the French Senate supports the signing of the Association Agreement and its free trade area between Ukraine and the EU at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius this November. "The Senate and the National Assembly of France unanimously support, despite our political passions, the prospect of signing the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU," he said.

Herve added that the friendship group would do everything to develop political, economic and cultural ties between the two countries.

Ukrinform