MINSK, Oct. 7 - Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said that the Ukrainian government is studying the experience of the Customs Union and plans to press on with its bid for observer status in the Moscow-led group.

"Three countries [Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan] have been in ongoing negotiations over the past ten years, and I know about these negotiations. All of the parties took into account their specificities and peculiarities. They agreed on things, created certain trade [rules], certain technical regulations, and developed a base of at least 120 legal agreements. All of these agreements have undergone ratification and the necessary state procedures," Azarov said on the Belarus 1 television channel.