OREANDA-NEWS. In the course of the annual meeting with foreign ambassadors accredited in Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko expressed gratitude to the governments of the countries-partners of Ukraine, particularly Germany and France, for the leadership in the framework of the Normandy format and in the EU in general. The Head of State emphasized that sanctions against the Russian aggressor must remain until full restoration of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including the return of Crimea.

“I believe that there cannot and must not be any geographic borders or limits for “made in Ukraine” and “made for Ukraine”. I also believe that by joint efforts and readiness to ambitious decisions and approaches we will be able to consolidate the existing achievements and reveal new opportunities for cooperation,” Petro Poroshenko addressed the attendees.

The Head of State expressed gratitude to the partners of Ukraine in the UN General Assembly who played their role in the issue of Crimea in 2016 having assigned the status of the occupation authorities and the aggressor to Russia.

The President noted that the UN GA Resolution of December was a guideline to the de-occupation of the peninsula and ensuring human rights in Crimea.

Petro Poroshenko emphasized that due to the joint efforts in 2016, we had managed to find a formula of unblocking the ratification of the Association Agreement with the EU. He is hopeful that the given issue would finally be resolved in 2017.

The Head of State also expressed words of profound gratitude to the United States and called 2016 a year of high dynamics of the Ukraine-USA contacts and cooperation on the basis of sustainable bipartisan support for Ukraine. He is hopeful that the U.S. would adhere to its commitments.

The President underlined the importance of support for Ukraine by the international financial institutions, particularly IMF, World Bank and EBRD, under powerful leadership of the United States. He noted that the given support would remain an important element for ensuring sustainability and efficiency of the process of reforms in Ukraine. “It allowed macroeconomic stabilization in 2016 and increased confidence of potential investors for the launch of their own projects in Ukraine probably already in 2017,” the President said.