Four-five pacts to be inked during Ukraine President's visit

Four-five pacts are likely to be signed to enhance cooperation in a number of fields including in defence and nuclear energy during the visit of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych here beginning December 9.
Yanukovych will meet President Pranab Mukherjee and hold delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a range of issues to boost bilateral ties during his four-day trip to India.
At a briefing on the visit, Ajay Bisaria, Joint Secretary of the Eurasia Division in the Ministry of External Affairs, said four-five agreements are likely to be signed between the two countries to enhance cooperation in a number of areas including in defence and nuclear energy.
 He said the difficulties in getting Ukrainian visa by Indians will also be taken up during the talks. Yanukovych will be accompanied by a large official and business delegation.
Bisaria said some Ukrainian experts are working in the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu and that country is also upgrading the AN-32 tranport aircraft fleet of IAF at a contract value of USD 520 million.
Cooperation between India and Ukraine is multi-faceted and covers a wide range of areas including political, defence, nuclear, space, economic and trade.
The bilateral trade has increased from USD 138.62 million in 1992 to USD 2,865.45 million in 2011-12. Indian pharmaceutical exports to Ukraine are the largest by volume and second in terms of value (USD 325 million in 2011) for the past several years.
India imports 25 per cent of sunflower oil production of Ukraine, which is amongst the world's largest producers of sunflower oil.
The 4th India-Ukraine Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, Industrial and Cultural Cooperation held in May-June this year reviewed the sectoral cooperation between the two countries setting the agenda for the visit of the President.
The Ukrainian President will also be visiting Agra and Bangalore.

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