China Reconfirms Ukraine as its key Eastern European Partner

KYIV, Ukraine, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

The leaders of China and Ukraine signed an Agreement on Strategic Partnership during an official visit of Hu Jintao, the President of the People's Republic of China, to Ukraine. In the current year, the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 80 percent. With China being  one of Ukraine's top foreign policy priorities, Ukrainian leadership expects bilateral goods turnover to reach USD 10 billion in 2012.

"The friendly ties between our two nations established historically. For nearly 20 years the diplomatic relations between Ukraine and China have been developing steadily," said the Chairman of the PRC at the meeting with Viktor Yanukovych. In the course of the visit, the Ministry of the Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine and Chinese Ministry of Commerce signed a bilateral relations Protocol on providing each other with a tentative list of export-import goods. Also, the two parties signed an intergovernmental agreement on providing free assistance to Ukrainian government in the amount of USD 12.3 million.

In the framework of the meeting, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine and State Energy Administration of China signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the energy sector. According to the Memorandum, the main areas of bilateral cooperation are as follows: joint participation in projects in oil and gas sector, exchange of information on energy facilities planned for construction or modernization; cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Viktor Yanukovych stated that the two countries could have a fruitful cooperation in the area of aircraft construction and engine production. He also pointed out that Ukrainian state-owed construction bureau Antonov is eager to cooperate with Chinese aircraft businesses in constructing large and medium size carriers, turbojet transport airplanes, and production of An-70, An-148, and An-158.  

This is the first visit the Chinese president paid to Ukraine since 2001. On the other hand, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych paid an official visit to Beijing last September. It resulted in China's commitment to invest over four billion USD in the infrastructure projects in Ukraine. During the state visit, the parties also signed investment agreements focusing on the EURO 2012 projects.