27 june 2012

Dmitry Medvedev and Mykola Azarov make statements to the media following a meeting of the Economic Cooperation Committee of the Russian-Ukrainian Interstate Commission

Participants:
“The conversation was direct and open and as a result we issued several instructions and made amendments to the protocol. This is all very good. We agreed that we will keep our meetings that way in the future as well. We can’t have lengthy breaks in between these meetings,” Prime Minister Medvedev said, summing up the outcome of intergovernmental talks in Kiev.

Transcript:

Mykola Azarov: Mr Medvedev, Russian delegation members, members of the Ukrainian government. The ninth meeting of the interstate commission was held today. It was attended by the newly formed Russian government. It was an especially pleasant meeting because this was the first time we met in this new composition. And I am glad to report that those Russian government leaders that I met today are sincerely interested in improving and consolidating our bilateral cooperation. This does not mean at all that there was weak progress in the past. On the contrary, there was excellent progress at an excellent pace. But I'm sure that the new team will enhance this cooperation between Russia and Ukraine, which is very important to us.

We are committed to implementing joint integration projects with Russian partners in nuclear energy, aircraft manufacturing, engine manufacturing, the missile and space sector, shipbuilding, transport and agricultural machinery and many other sectors, including culture, as was mentioned today. However, we should raise our cultural cooperation to a higher level, Mr Medvedev.

Russia is Ukraine's principal trade partner, holding the top position in Ukrainian trade. And we are glad to note a positive trend toward further intensification. I could speak at length on the serious research projects such as Spektr-R (Radioastron – orbital radio telescope), Spektr UF (World Space Observatory – Ultraviolet, WSO-UV), Rezonans, Luna-Glob (Moon exploration programme) and so on, which are promoting cooperation between us in the area of science. The committee praised the work performed by the Ukrainian-Russian commission for the integration of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. The Russian TVEL company and Ukraine’s Energoatom signed a contract for the supply of nuclear fuel on September 30. This is a comprehensive and far-reaching agreement.

Work is underway to revitalise cooperation between Ukraine and Russia in mechanical engineering. It has been decided to draft a programme for 2013-2014 similar to the one that was in place prior to 2012.

We are pursuing vigorous cooperation in the area of nanotechnology. Ukrainian-Russian cooperation in the chemical industry is being implemented as well.

We have focused on inter-regional border cooperation and confirmed our mutual interest in continuing cooperation in this important area. Two important agreements and a protocol outlining future cooperation between us were signed today.

I believe that we have accomplished a lot today in making preparations for the inter-governmental committee led by our two presidents. Thank you. I would like to give the floor to Prime Minister Medvedev.

Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Azarov, colleagues and journalists, unfortunately one of our plans for today didn’t quite work out, I’m sorry to say. We were hoping to go to the semi-finals with Mr Azarov, but you know why we’re not there, neither Russia nor Ukraine made it through. But on the bright side, that’s the only thing that didn’t work out for us today. In my opinion the commission discussed other very important issues today.  

This is the first time I have co-chaired this commission together with my colleague from Ukraine. I think it has been a success, because the commission covers all the key areas of our cooperation. Our conversation today was quite frank, and Mr Azarov here agrees with me. No one was embarrassed to talk about the problems that exist, we openly discussed our problems in the area of investment and energy supplies, and outlined our tasks for the near future.

The conversation was direct and open and as a result we issued several instructions and made amendments to the protocol. This is all very good. We agreed that we will keep our meetings that way in the future as well. We can’t have lengthy breaks in between these meetings. Unfortunately, the last time the commission met was over 12 months ago, whereas it is supposed to meet twice a year to discuss various issues, take them to president’s office and resolve the bulk of the practical issues that are overseen by the government. We agreed that we will meet regularly from now on and hold the next meeting in Russia later this year, most likely in October or November.

I would also like to comment on the outcome of the work of this commission. It is generally assumed that Russian-Ukrainian meetings focus exclusively on problems, such as gas supplies, investment, humanitarian cooperation and so on. However, that misses the point. The point is that we are truly large trade partners and our ties are becoming stronger every year. The most important thing is to keep up the momentum and make sure that Russian and Ukrainian enterprises keep expanding their capabilities, are not subjected to various kinds of restrictions and establish close integration with each other. If we manage to achieve this, then the commission will have fulfilled its task. Thank you.