国际英语新闻:EU, Russia, Ukraine to launch consultations on effects of EU-Ukraine association pact

BRUSSELS, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU), Russia and Ukraine during a trilateral ministerial meeting here on Friday agreed to launch a consultation mechanism to examine the effects of the implementation of the EU-Ukraine association agreement and address concerns from Russia.

While the new trade arrangements aim to create positive economic effects for all parties involved, "their implementation could entail some potential economic risks between Russia and Ukraine," said a "joint conclusions" statement following Friday's meeting issued by the EU.

According to the statement, the consultation mechanism primarily focuses on technical regulations, standards, customs administration, conformity assessment procedures and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, etc. arising from the implementation of the Association Agreement signed between EU and Ukraine late last month.

Russia will circulate a list of precise concerns or potential risks by July 20. Based on this list, bilateral consultations will be conducted at expert level in order to exchange views and search for possible solutions to such concerns or risks. When the involvement of the EU would be needed, EU experts would join the bilateral process.

The experts will try to find solutions for the concerns or risks as many as possible and will identify those issues needing discussion at higher level, according to the statement.

Experts are tasked to produce a preliminary report by Sept. 1.

The statement said the ministers on Friday agreed that they would meet again on Sept. 12 in Brussels in order to review the results of the experts' work and to discuss any possible solutions for remaining issues.