Azarov hopes FTZ agreement will take effect from January 2012
ST. PETERSBURG. Oct 19 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said he hopes that the CIS free trade zone agreement will enter into force from January 2012.
"I hope that this agreement will have a real life starting from January next year," he said at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
The agreement has yet to undergo more state procedures and ratification, the Ukrainian prime minister said. Hopefully, the political will of the CIS leaders will allow to conduct these procedures promptly, he said.
Azarov also said he is satisfied with the bilateral relations between Ukraine and Russia and that he hopes his meeting with the Russian prime minister will facilitate the development of these relations.
It was reported that the CIS heads of government, including Azarov, signed the CIS free trade zone agreement in St. Petersburg on Tuesday. A consensus on this document was reached earlier in the day at a meeting of the CIS heads of government.