Ukrainian companies and enterprises will be able to compensate for the decline in trade with Russian partners through European market as part of the Association Agreement with the EU.

Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development and Trade Pavlo Sheremeta said this at a press briefing on Thursday in Kharkiv.

"In the coming days, we expect that the EU will do what it declared a few weeks ago. That is, duties will be removed and substantially reduced. This is actually the implementation of the Association Agreement. This is a temporary measure until the second part is signed, but it is opening quite a large market for Ukrainian companies," he said.

At the same time, the minister said the reduced duties do not mean entering markets in Europe automatically.

"The market will have to be taken, it is not an automatic victory. It is necessary to compete, to win, to prepare for the competition. Because really the competition is tough out there, it is global ... I hint that innovations should be improved, and costs reduced," he emphasized.

According to Sheremeta, Ukrainian companies need to open other market outlets. In particular, Asia may get interested in domestic goods.

"We need active, we can say in a good way aggressive marketing policy, good quality and low costs," the minister added.

Ukrinform