Russia-Ukraine trade hits 20-year record
KYIV. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Ukraine hopes for further growth of trade with Russia, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Klyuyev told State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin on Monday.
The sides said that bilateral trade topped the pre-crisis level and hit a record of the past 20 years in 2011, the council staff reported.
"While discussing prospects for deeper regional interaction, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary and the Russian State Duma Speaker said they hoped that formalities would be complete and the CIS free trade zone would start to operate this year. Andriy Klyuyev stressed that the successful accomplishment of that task would significantly enlarge trade between agreement parties," the staff said.
In his opinion, the Russian entry into the WTO will add efficiency to the solution of trade and economic cooperation problems in the bilateral and multilateral formats.
"Gas cooperation was also on the agenda," the staff said.
Klyuyev expressed hope that negotiations on the review of gas contract terms would be complete soon.
"Hopefully, the disagreements will be settled and the optimal, economically founded and just formula for the gas price for Ukraine will be elaborated," he said.