New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS) India and Ukraine are expected to sign a host of agreements, including in the areas of trade and nuclear safety Monday during the visit of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Accompanied by senior ministers, officials and a large business delegation, Yanukovych comes to India on a four-day visit Sunday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold wide-ranging talks with Yanukovych Monday. The talks will explore a wide spectrum of areas, including intensification of trade and investment, nuclear safety and visa issues.
The Ukrainian leader will also be visiting Agra and Bangalore during his state visit, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
The bilateral cooperation between the two countries is multi-faceted and covers a wide range of areas including political, defence, science and technology, nuclear, space and and trade investment.
Bilateral trade has surged from $138.62 million in 1992 to $2,865.45 million in 2011-12.
Indian pharmaceutical exports to Ukraine are the largest by volume and second in terms of value and are estimated to be $325 million in 2011. India imports 25 percent of sunflower oil production of Ukraine, which is amongst the world's largest producers of sunflower oil.
The fourth India-Ukraine inter-governmental commission on trade, economic, scientific, technological, industrial and cultural cooperation was held in May/June this year. It reviewed the sectoral cooperation between the two countries setting the agenda for the visit of the president.
"Ukraine has about 15 nuclear power reactors, which India has also now obtained and are going to be commissioned at Kudankulam. In fact, several Ukrainian-origin technical personnel have been assisting the project in Kudankulam," said Ajay Bisaria, joint secretary (Eurasia) in the external affairs ministry.
"Our defence cooperation has been quite healthy. Ukraine is overhauling and modernizing the Indian Air Force's AN32 fleet. This is based on contracts signed in 2009 worth about $520 million," he said.
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