EU signs plan to boost ties with Ukraine

BRUSSELS, Feb 21 (AFP) - The European Union signed an action plan with Ukraine on Monday to boost ties with Kiev following the election of President Viktor Yuschchenko after the ex-Soviet country's recent political crisis.
The EU plan lays out a series of benefits the EU intends to offer the country including trade agreements, as part of the EU's so-called Neighbourhood Policy with states around its expanded borders.
The EU, whose foreign policy chief Javier Solana was a key mediator in Ukraine's two-month political crisis, has offered to strengthen ties with Kiev but stopped short of talking about EU membership.
Yushchenko will be in Brussels Tuesday to meet US President George W. Bush and European leaders on the sidelines of summit talks of the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

02/21/2005 18:39 GMT - AFP