On 13-14 November, 2007, the European Business Association, the premier organisation for foreign business in Ukraine bringing together around 700 companies, visited Brussels to meet with senior officials of:

- the European Commission;
- the European Parliament;
- the Confederation of the European Business;
- the European Economic and Social Committee.

This Visit was aimed at establishing even closer cooperation with the European Commission, as well as at discussing different aspects of bilateral EU-Ukraine trade relations and studying the EU experience in dealing with certain issues facing business community in Ukraine.

While the Mission the EBA had nearly 20 high level meetings, in particular with:

- Director General Landaburu (the Directorate-General for External Relations, RELEX, EC);
- Director Synowiec (the Directorate-General for Trade, TRADE, EC);
- Director Farnell (the Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General, ENTR, EC);
- Director Houtman (the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, TREN, EC);
- Director Longo (the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, ARGI, EC);
- Head of Unit Rubinacci (the Directorate-General for Trade, TRADE, EC);
- Head of Unit Devigne (the Directorate-General for Trade, TRADE, EC);
- Head of Unit van Geldorp (the Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection, SANCO, EC);
- Head of Unit Kovacs (the Taxation and Customs Union Directorate-General, TAXUD, EC);
- Head of Unit Dempsey (the Directorate-General for Internal Market and Services, MARKT, EC);
- Director van den Hoven (the Confederation of the European Business);
- President Dimitriadis (the European Economic and Social Committee.

Participants of the meetings discussed many spheres of the EU-Ukraine bilateral relations. The European Business Association has established direct contact with high level representatives of the European Institutions not only to declare in a direct way the most burning problems of companies doing business in Ukraine but also to hasten their solving.

The First EBA Mission led by the Executive Director of the European Association Anna Derevyanko included: EBA Vice President Trond Moe (Telenor, Country Manager); EBA Board member, EBA Fuel and Energy Committee Chairman Hilmar Enke (E.ON Ruhrgas, Head of representative office); EBA Healthcare Committee Chairman Victor Pushkarev (Orion Corporation, Head of representative office); EBA Legal Committee Chairman Ihor Olekhov (Baker McKenzie, Associate); EBA Investment Climate Committee Chairman Edilberto Segura (Sigma Bleyzer, Chief Economist and Director); EBA Agrochemical Committee Chairman Harald Kube (BASF AG, Country Manager Ukraine / Moldova / Caucasus Countries). On behalf of the European Business Association, its team members who took part in the mission would like to thank all of them and to express the gratitude for their valuable contribution.

"This EBA visit to Brussels confirmed that Ukraine is very high on the agenda of the European Commission and that there is genuine interest in integrating Ukraine with Europe through comprehensive agreements and partnerships. This was evident by the high level of people that met with us from the Trade and External Relations DGs, as well as other. It was an excellent opportunity to present EBA and enable us to contribute to Ukraine’s European integration process. I was pleased that the EC wants to keep in close contact with EBA during the negotiation process with Ukraine. This will make it quite possible for us to influence on the process and the issues to be addressed.” – Trond Moe said. 

Both sides considered this bilateral dialog as very important one and agreed to prolong and intensify it. The European Commission representatives stated that they do need competent information from the side of European Business operating in Ukraine and their respective expertise, which was offered by the EBA to make EU-Ukraine negotiation process faster.

During all meetings the EBA presented the EBA Report "Barriers to Investment in Ukraine" (prepared in collaboration with the whole EBA Community) as an answer to many questions of the European officials.

The European Business Association believes that this First EBA Mission to the European Institutions will give a real chance to business circles to push reforms in Ukraine aimed at becoming closer to the EU in order to create favourable business environment and attracting
foreign direct investment into Ukrainian economy.

The EBA would like to extend its sincere gratitude to the Delegation of the European Commission to Ukraine, because only with their support this visit became possible. The EBA are committed and look forward to our continuous cooperation!