OREANDA-NEWS. November 26, 2012. Both the authorities and civil society will only receive advances if they work together on European integration direction. The First vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Valeriy Khoroshkovskyi said this during a meeting with representatives of the Public Expert Council under the Ukrainian part of the Committee on Cooperation between Ukraine and the EU, which took place in Kyiv.

Participants of the meeting have discussed a number of topical issues of European integration, including the preparation for the signing of the Association Agreement, the FTA creation, the introduction of a visa-free regime, adapt of legislation and institutional reform. The first vice Prime Minister and members of the Public Expert Council also exchanged views on ways to enhance cooperation between the Government and civil society.

Valeriy Khoroshkovskyi informed on the work of the Government under the information and communication strategy to improve public awareness on European integration. "A key element of this strategy is the provision of active involvement of non-governmental organizations, research institutions and the private sector to implement its activities", Horoshkovskyi said. In this case, the First vice Prime Minister said that the implementation of the concept should be an example of successful public-private partnership based not only work together, but the overall responsibility.

Separately, First vice Prime Minister noted the work of the expert environment on public monitoring of the Agenda of the Ukraine - the EU Association. Mr. Horoshkovskyi suggested for better results introduce a mechanism of bilateral consultations on the eve of the publication of monitoring reports. "This will allow us to "compare notes" on European integration direction", the First vice Prime Minister said.

Following the meeting, it was agreed to introduce the practice of quarterly meetings with the Public Expert Council under the Ukrainian part of the Committee on Cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. The parties agreed that this approach will allow rapidly exchange of views on trends in the field of European integration and to develop effective solutions in this area.