Ukraine seeks entry to Chinese market

Ukraine seeks to attract China’s investments and newest production technologies, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Arbuzov said at the meeting with top managers of China Development Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China on Tuesday. The Ukrainian delegation led by Arbuzov is on a working visit to China until September 27. “I am confident that China’s leading bank will contribute to such cooperation,” he said. “We can further boost our bilateral trade while implementing large-scale projects that can become a reality with your support and financing.” Arbuzov expressed deep gratitude to the China Development Bank’s 3.656 billion dollar loan issued to Ukraine’s state-run company Naftogaz Ukrainy to implement projects targeted at replacing gas imports with domestic coal. The deal was inked on December 25, 2012. Ukraine demonstrated its interest “in attracting strong investment and credit potential of China to modernize Ukraine’s economy, develop infrastructure and to ensure access of Ukrainian goods, services and technologies to the vast Chinese market,” Arbuzov said. On Monday, Ukrainian Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Nikolai Prisyazhnyuk said in Beijing China could become a strategic export market for Ukraine. “Expansion of the list of agricultural goods to be exported to China would make the share of Ukraine’s agricultural products reach 20-25 percent in the total trade turnover with China,” he said. The two countries plan to sign a strategic partnership development programme during Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich’s official visit to China in December.