OREANDA-NEWS. November 29, 2012. Ukraine considers cooperation with UAE to be one of strategic priorities of foreign economic policy in the Middle East. It was stated by the President at Ukrainian-Emirati business forum in Abu-Dhabi. Available economic potential of Ukraine and UAE provides necessary preconditions for further deepening of bilateral trade and economic relations,” the Head of State noted.

Viktor Yanukovych expressed confidence that Ukraine and UAE should primarily focus on increasing the volume of bilateral trade and diversification and improvement of export-import operations’ structure.

Also, according to the President, it is necessary to stimulate projects capable of increasing the share of products with high added value in Ukrainian-Emirati trade turnover. “In this context, a positive example is the experience of machine-building company “Motor Sich” in Emirates and in the whole Gulf region. The company sells its own production and provides necessary technical service together with its Emirati partners,” the President noted.

The Head of State emphasized that the priority of bilateral relations at present time should be the implementation of joint projects in energy, aviation, shipbuilding, metallurgy, industrial and agricultural machinery, chemical and mining industry. Other beneficial spheres would be science and technology, transport infrastructure, agriculture, education and tourism.

Viktor Yanukovych stressed: Ukraine pays particular attention to the strengthening of energy independence by diversification of sources and ways of energy resources supply. “In this context, oil and gas sphere is the priority for us,” he said.

The President noted that Ukraine was interested in designing and manufacturing the satellites of remote Earth sensing for scientific research. Viktor Yanukovych added that Ukrainian companies had appropriate experience and capabilities in building large-scale transport objects in UAE, particularly railways, subway and respective infrastructure.

The Head of State said that agro-industrial complex was also important in bilateral cooperation due to the food crisis in the world. “We consider UAE to be one of the main partners in the region that requires not only a huge amount of products, but also exports the production in the region,” he said. “We are interested in establishing joint enterprises on producing and processing agricultural goods. Your initiatives regarding import of cereals, milk, beef, poultry, seeds and other products may also be mutually beneficial,” Viktor Yanukovych said.

The President stressed that UAE were interested in developing renewable sources of energy. “Ukraine has offered to build solar power plants and wind plants. We think there is a great prospect in this sphere,” he said.