China-Ukraine trade to hit two billion US dollars ( 2003-10-14 21:37) (Xinhua)
The trade volume between China and Ukraine is expected to hit 2 billion US
dollars this year, a senior Chinese official in charge of foreign trade said
here Tuesday.
China-Ukraine trade had seen robust growth and the bilateral trade volume
stood at 1.32 billion US dollars in the first eight months of this year, up 63
percent over the same period of last year, said Vice-Minister of Commerce Zhang
Zhigang.
He told the eighth meeting of Sino-Ukrainian Cooperation Committee of Economy
and Trade, held Tuesday afternoon in Beijing, that there was still great
potential for trade and economic cooperation with a view to good political
relations between the two nations.
Zhang, who is also chairman of Chinese side of the committee, said China's
imports would amount to 1,000 billion US dollars in the next five years, and the
prospects for cooperation in high- tech fields, in which Ukraine boasted
advantages, were brilliant.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Tabachnik said Ukraine gave priority
to developing economic cooperation with China and was willing to further
cooperation on the long-term basis of mutual benefit.
Ukraine hoped to learn from China's experience in winning entry to the World
Trade Organization, Tabachnik said.
Ukraine is China's third largest trade partner among members of the
Commonwealth of Independent States. The trade volume between China and Ukraine
stood at 1.23 billion US dollars in 2002.