Russian, Ukrainian presidents meet over economic ties

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 24, 2004

Russian, Ukrainian presidents meet over economic ties

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma held talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Friday and the two leaders signed a series of economic cooperation agreements.

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Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma held talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Friday and the two leaders signed a series of economic cooperation agreements.

Kuchma told a press conference later that they had discussed the completion of a single economic zone agreed upon last year among Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

The single economic zone, akin to the European Union, envisions free movement of goods, capital and labor as well as common tariffs and customs.

The four countries have agreed to establish a free trade area in the first stage.

Putin, who arrived here on Friday for a two-day working visit, said his country wanted to further expand trade relations with Ukraine. Bans and restrictions still existed despite the fact thatthe bilateral trade amounted to 12 billion US dollars last year, he added.

After the meeting, the two leaders attended the signing ceremony of cooperation agreements between the two countries' steel makers and nuclear energy companies.

The summit came after a bilateral pact in December to share theAzov Sea waters eased the tensions from a dispute over the Kerch Strait that links the Black and Azov Seas.

Russia-Ukraine relations became strained in September when Russia, without informing Ukraine, began to build a dike stretching from its southern mainland toward the Tuzla Island near the frontier with Ukraine on the Kerch Strait.

Source: Xinhua

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