OREANDA-NEWS. April 24, 2013. Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov held an official meeting with Minister of State at the Department of Finance of Ireland Brian Hayes.

The talks concerned issues of development of bilateral trade and economic and also political cooperation between the states, Ukraine’s integration with the EU as well.

“We highly evaluate the support of Ireland, as an EU member and a country holding European Union’s current presidency, of our Eurointegration aspirations,” Mykola Azarov stressed.

According to him, not all the EU member states support Ukraine’s course to Eurointegration. “In various reasons there are expressed doubts concerning a possibility to ratify the association agreement. But I hope all these doubts could be overcome in the end,” the head of Ukrainian Government noted.

He emphasized that Ukraine’s membership in the European Union is mutually beneficial: “European integration is favorable for Ukraine, in the same way it is beneficial for the EU to have Ukraine as its member. Such a large European state as Ukraine cannot be outside the EU”.

Besides, the Premier stressed that our state is preparing seriously to the Eastern Partnership Summit slated to be held in November in Vilnius, where Ukraine counts upon signing of the Association agreement and creating a free trade zone with the European Union.

In his turn, Minister of State at the Department of Finance of Ireland Brian Hayes assured the head of Government in support of Eurointegration aspirations of Ukraine: “In the frames of our EU chairmanship we will take a very active part in the Summit in Vilnius. We absolutely support integration of Ukraine with the European structures and will render overall assistance to your country,” the Minister of State emphasized.