Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Thursday he would sign an association agreement with the European Union on June 27, reports Reuters.

He said he would also send his new foreign minister to Luxembourg next week to lay out a peace plan for the east to EU ministers.

Poroshenko made his comments after presenting Pavlo Klimkin, who was earlier endorsed as foreign minister by parliament, to the media.

Klimkin commented: "Our priorities are obvious — they are a peace plan [for eastern Ukraine] and association with the EU."

Referring to plans to sign the Association Agreement, Poroshenko said, "that for which we have waited for so long will take place next week."

Meanwhile, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Ukrainian exports to Russia will no longer be zero-rated should Kiev sign the economic part of a free-trade agreement with the EU. 

"Some economic problems may appear for us, and we will be unable to keep a zero import duty for certain," he said late Wednesday at a meeting on agriculture development, quoted by Russia Today.

In the first place, the limitation would concern agricultural products, Putin explained.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!