OREANDA-NEWS. November 11, 2011. The Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania Teodor Bakonski during the meeting expressed their mutual interest to deepen political dialogue and development of bilateral cooperation in various fields.

In particular, Mykola Azarov has stressed that the intensification of the dialogue will facilitate the development of bilateral relations as in economy, and culture. "We are neighbors, and contacts at the highest level are very important for us, therefore they need to activate. We are ready to contribute in this direction," he has noted.

The Head of Ukrainian Government has reported that the trade turnover between two countries for the last period has grown by 80 %, and constitutes 1.5 billion dollars. "However, this figure does not match the potential of our countries," Mykola Azarov has noted and has stressed the need of carrying out the Ukrainian-Romanian joint commission on economic, industrial, scientific and technical cooperation in the first quarter of next year.

In addition, during the meeting, the Prime Minister has reported on the approximation of the final stage of negotiating process with European Union to conclude association agreements and free trade area creation. "The final round of negotiations which will open the way to the summit of EU-Ukraine will take place tomorrow," Mykola Azarov has stated, having expressed hope to support of Romania on the way of euro integration of Ukraine.

In turn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania Teodor Bakonski has supported the proposal of Mykola Azarov and has expressed wishes for the successful completion of negotiations with the EU concerning agreements on association and free trade area creation.

Furthermore, the Minister has stressed the importance of ratification of the agreement on local border traffic and border crossing points across the state border between Ukraine and Romania that will promote "convergence of societies."