The day before, according to tradition, many international organizations changed their presiding countries. For example, Ukraine, passing the OSCE chairmanship to Switzerland, adopted the CIS annual chairmanship from Belarus. According to the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, this year the country will implement the model of economic cooperation, which today is in the interests of all the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
As the president explained, the focus will be on enhancing trade, the development of effective methods of resolving disputes and removal of barriers in mutual trade. "In particular, the priority of our chairmanship in the CIS will be preparing to sign agreements on transit pipelines, trade in services, protocol on abandoning export duties", Yanukovych said; he also proposed to hold in Kiev the meeting of the Council of Heads of CIS in October in conjunction with the seventieth anniversary of Ukraine's liberation from Nazi invaders.
Let us note that for in 2014 Ukraine will be the chairman of both the Council of Heads of State, Heads of Government, the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Economic Council, the Council of Permanent Representatives of the CIS countries in the statutory and other bodies of the Commonwealth, as well as in the Committee on Economic Affairs under the Economic Council of the CIS. Ukraine will co-chair along with Belarus and Kazakhstan .
In addition, the European Union will be under the guidance of Greece for six months. Athens also stated that the priority of its presidency will be economic development of the EU, including the fight against unemployment, strengthening the banking union, as well as solving the problems of migration and European solidarity. According to official Greek representatives, the next six months will symbolize the changes in life of the EU. Russia and Ukraine also expect a certain kind of change, in turn, from the Greek chairmanship.
The fact is that the Russian Federation hopes for the next step in the direction of easing the visa regime. Recall that the very agreement to reduce formalities for obtaining a visa is already prepared, but Brussels constantly postpones signing this agreement. The reasons allowing hope to achieve the results in just the last six months are that the facilitation of the visa regime for Russian citizens will allow primarily to increase the flow of tourists to the popular European countries, such as Greece .
Meanwhile, Ukraine expressed the hope that Greece will contribute to signing an Association Agreement with the EU delayed by Kiev in late November. "I hope for the support of Greece in the further development of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU aimed at the conclusion and effective implementation of the Association Agreement”, Viktor Yanukovych has congratulated President of Greece Karolos Papoulias on the start of the EU presidency. “I hope to continue our dialogue on all personal topical issues during your state visit to Ukraine".
