KIEV, March 31 (Xinhuanet) -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko Thursday signed into effect a decree to scrap visas for European Union (EU) citizens to promote the country's drive for integration with its western neighbors.

    A statement on the presidential Web site said that under the decree signed by Yushchenko, visa requirements would be dropped from May 1 to Sept. 1 for visitors from the EU and Switzerland as an experiment.

    The Ukrainian government lifted the visa requirements for the short-term goal of facilitating access for foreign visitors to the Eurovision 2005 contest scheduled in Kiev in May, the statement said.

    It also said the measure sought to "underscore the truly open nature of Ukrainian society, implement the policy of integration into European society and create proper conditions for attracting investment."

    The visa-exemption decree for the time places European citizensunder the same legal status in Ukraine as Russian citizens, who have been able to visit Ukraine visa free since the break-up of the former Soviet Union.

    Yushchenko, who is pushing for his country's EU membership, first announced his plan to drop visas for EU citizens earlier this month. He also called for "mutual understanding" from the EU, meaning reciprocal moves by the EU to scrap visas for Ukrainians. Enditem