Interfax
December 10

Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma is to go on a working visit to Tashkent December 19-20, Ukraine's ambassador to Uzbekistan Anatoliy Kasyanenko announced during a press-conference in Tashkent monday.

Ukraine's president's visit to Uzbekistan will allow to step up bilateral ties, Kasyanenko said. He noted during the visit the sides will discuss a number of issues called to fill Ukraine-Uzbekistan cooperation with specific content for long-term prospect. the diplomat disclosed the parties intend to sign several documents, particularly, on production cooperation, on interregional cooperation, on research and engineering cooperation. for the past two years bilateral trade and economic relations between both countries have evidenced stable growth trend.

This was mostly due to the previous visit of Ukraine's president to Uzbekistan (October 2000) and reached agreements, as well as numerous visits of delegations, Kasyanenko noted.

The diplomat said Ukraine is going to develop mutually beneficial production cooperation, taking into account the past and present structural economic reforms in the two countries. It is possible to implement within joint events on the basis of up-to-date technologies in those spheres of Uzbekistan's economy determined as priority. For example, craft construction, fuel and energy complex, light and pharmaceutical industry, the diplomat said.

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