Putin, Yanukovych meet for talks, discuss economy

In 2011 the bilateral trade between Russia and Ukraine was reported at more than $50 billion. Besides, Ukraine remains Russia’s major trade partner in the CIS, while Russia is ranked fourth in terms of foreign investment in Ukraine’s economy. The production partnership protocol is meant to remove all barriers from mutual trade schemes. Vladimir Putin commented: "Many industries in our countries are interchangeable. Thousands of companies have direct contacts as part of the production partnership protocol. Today Ukraine ranks fourth among Russia`s major trade partners, and tops the list of our partners in the CIS. Taking into account the process of integration we are going to boost our cooperation in the most important spheres – nuclear energy, metallurgy, and space exploration.”

Ukraine’s leader Viktor Yanukovych said that in 2011 the two countries achieved better results in mutual trade and plan to develop it further. "We have discussed a whole range of bilateral issue and agreed that our countries have a great potential and we should join effort to make the most of it. It is important to continue cooperation in aircraft industry and space exploration.”

Energy cooperation dominated the agenda of the talks between Mr. Putin and Mr. Yanukovych. Yet the negotiations on gas prices have not been completed. Mr. Yanukovych said that he expected Moscow to offer an economically reasonable scheme of setting gas prices. The talks will be continued after the parliamentary elections in Ukraine scheduled for October 28. The two leaders also discussed measures to strengthen cross-border ties and prepare another interregional economic forum featuring the heads of states which is going to take place in Nizhny Novgorod.