OREANDA-NEWS. November 23, 2010. The Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov hopes that the agreement on free trade area between Ukraine and the European Union would be signed in 2011. The Head of Government said that during his meeting with the Prince of Belgium Philippe.

"We are committed next year to agree on FTA with the European Union" - he said. In addition, according to the Prime Minister, today the preparation for signing association agreement and implementation of visa-free regime between Ukraine and EU is in active phase.

At the same Mykola Azarov noted the importance of bilateral meeting to strengthen economic and political ties between Ukraine and Belgium. Specifically, he called for closer cooperation between businesspersons and is convinced that the Ukrainian-Belgian business forum, which started today, will be effective and will contribute to development of economic cooperation. The Prime Minister stressed that the Government attaches great importance to the modernization of the economy, including modernization of large enterprises and introduction of new technologies. He said that the Government in the framework of investment projects is developing the infrastructure: "We are building roads, airports." He also called for cooperation the Belgian businesspersons.