On February 17, 2016 Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin met with Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Timo Soini in the course of his working visit to Ukraine.

Situation in Donbas was the main theme of the Ministers’ meeting. Both sides spoke for the necessity of full implementation of the Minsk agreements. The Finnish side assured that it would continue to stick to the common EU position that only full implementation of the Minsk agreements is a precondition for abolishment of sanctions against the Russian Federation.

Minister Pavlo Klimkin informed of the recent cases of Russia’s violations of the Minsk agreements, in particular, shellings from the “Grad” launchers.

While discussing Ukrainian-Finnish bilateral cooperation Ministers noted the significance of further deepening of political dialogue. In this context the future visit of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to Finland was mentioned.

Minister Pavlo Klimkin expressed his gratitude to Finland for huge assistance in conducting reforms, as well as in strengthening of the energy efficiency in Ukraine. In this regard the Project “Pilot module “Green school” in Kherson region was noted as a special example. Besides, the contribution of Finland in providing the OSCE mission in the East of Ukraine was highly evaluated.

Timo Soini positively characterized the prospects of the Ukrainian market for the Finnish businessmen. In this respect the sides agreed on further joint measures on deepening Ukrainian-Finnish trade and economic cooperation, including in the framework of the EU-Ukraine Free trade zone functioning.

The Ukrainian side expressed its gratitude to Finland for the support in the issue of introduction the visa free regime for the citizens of Ukraine.

The Sides also positively noted the character of cooperation in the framework on the international organizations and agreed on further deepening of these contacts.

Ministers as well exchanged their thoughts on the issues of the regional problematic.