Ukraine has signed an Open Skies agreement with the United States, the UNIAN news agency reports.

According to the embassy of the United States in Ukraine, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Andrii Pyvovarskyi and United States’ Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Catherine Novelli signed the agreement during a Ukraine-USA investment forum in Washington.

"This agreement strengthens bilateral economic ties and facilitates the growth of civil aviation between the United States and Ukraine," the embassy said in a statement.

The Ministry of Infrastructure unilaterally introduced the Open Skies regime at the Lvov airport on 2 April this year, allowing any air carrier to operate flights to the Lvov airport without hindrances if it has permission from the aviation authorities in its country. This principle was also introduced at the Odessa airport on 30 June.

On 18 June, Pyvovarskyi expressed confidence that Ukraine would sign an Open Skies agreement with the European Union before the end of 2015. According to him, negotiations are continuing with Ukraine’s European partners, they are the ones working to reach agreement with Spain and the United Kingdom on resolution of the of Gibraltar issue, a compromise has already been drafted, and the issue of signing the agreement is being resolved at the highest political level.

The Open Skies agreement with the European Union was initialed in 2013.

In May, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko issued a directive authorizing Pyvovarskyi to sign the agreement between Ukraine and the European Union.

The signing of the Open Skies agreement between Ukraine and the European Union is expected to liberalize the Ukrainian air transport market and allow European companies to operate freely in Ukraine and Ukrainian companies in Europe. The document will guarantee European low-cost airlines access to the Ukrainian market and guaranteed Ukrainian and European companies the right to operate flights between Ukraine and EU countries without intergovernmental approval of air routes.