On 20–24 October 2008, the EU and Ukraine held a negotiation round on the free trade area chapter of the Association agreement. According to some Ukrainian media, the "EU promised to liberalise trade relations". Ukraine's representative told that one must not "focus too much" on negotiation since there is much to be done by the Ukrainian government to meet certain criteria. He also said, that "soon, the Balkans will enter into the European trade space and therefore Ukraine might lose these markets". This was seen as a reason for Ukraine to move forward as least as soon as Balkans, the EU did not comment on that perception.