PM Shmyhal: accession to EU is Ukraine's key geopolitical goal

KYIV. May 25 (Interfax) - The main geopolitical goal of Ukraine for the coming years is to gain membership in the European Union, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

"Ukraine's accession to the EU is our key geopolitical goal for the next few years. We do not need 15 years for that. Many European leaders understand it," Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Tuesday.

Ukraine can give a great deal to the modernized Europe: food security, energy transition, digitalization, a new promising market, new investment opportunities, and the strengthening of collective European security, he said.

"We have hope and will persuade our allies next month to grant EU candidate country status to Ukraine. It will demonstrate that European countries genuinely respect the values of freedom and democracy," Shmyhal said.

In the near future, Ukraine plans to sign "customs visa-free" rules and is preparing to sign an agreement with the EU on liberalizing trucking services, he said.

"We plan to join the Convention on a common transit procedure. This document is key to the transportation of commodities between EU member countries. We already used the relevant computerized transit system NCTS and are technically ready to join the relevant convention as well," Shmyhal said.

This move will help significantly speed up customs clearance and commodity flows, thus boosting the quality of customs services and opening up new opportunities for Ukrainian business, he said.

"We are preparing to sign an agreement with the EU on the liberalization of trucking services. The European Commission has already issued a recommendation to the member countries to liberalize such transportation with Ukraine," the prime minister said.

Ukraine has expedited the opening of new crossing points on the border, Shmyhal said.

"Two such crossings will be opened on the western border in the new future. The ambitious plan, the objective of the Infrastructure Ministry, the State Border Service and the Customs Service for the next six months is to set up crossing points in places where roads have already been built or where such roads may promptly be constructed," Shmyhal said.

Apart from that, Ukraine will launch a stage-by-stage project to build European-standards rail tracks in order to connect Ukraine's railroad to Europe's, he said.

"At the initial stage, there will be train services between major hubs and large cities, subsequently spreading all over the country," the prime minister said.

Ukraine also plans to join the EU's mobile roaming space and Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) soon, he said.

"The former will make it possible to make calls between the EU and Ukraine without any additional charges and will also allow Ukrainians to use the mobile internet paying domestic tariffs for it," Shmyhal said on Telegram.

Ukraine may join the SEPA as soon as this summer, a step that will enable commission-free conversion to euros, he said.