CAIRO: After a meeting between the prime ministers of Egypt and Ukraine on Wednesday, the officials highlighted agriculture, gas, petroleum and military as key areas of potential cooperation. Egypt's PM Ahmed Nazif met with his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Azarov in Cairo's Smart Village to discuss political and economic cooperation as well as to sign various agreements. Nazif said Egypt, which exports 30 percent of its natural gas reserves, welcomes Ukrainian companies working in natural gas extraction. There is also potential to export natural gas to Ukraine, he added. “There is currently a Ukrainian company working on petroleum extraction in the Gulf of Suez and two more projects are currently being studied,” he said. “Recently we signed a military contract with Ukraine [to] import three military aircraft, and we are currently working with the Ukrainian Minister of Military Production to establish more cooperation in terms of maintenance of military assets.” Trade volume between the two nations reached $2 billion in 2008, Nazif said, and although it decreased during the financial crisis, early 2010 estimate are favorable. One of the main results of the meeting, according to Nazif, was the development of a plan to increase the frequency and decrease the time intervals of meetings between representatives of the two countries — who used to meet every two years — to facilitate rapid and more efficient coordination on joint projects and trade partnerships. Russia's wheat crisis earlier this year forced Egypt to look for alternative wheat sources for import, identifying Ukraine as a possible source. “I have assigned the Ministry of Trade and Industry to work in close coordination with its Ukrainian counterpart to study the possibilities of such trade,” he said. Azarov said, “We have covered a diverse range of topics regarding the cooperation between our countries and the mechanisms making this closer cooperation possible and this has made us optimistic of future cooperation.” The Ukrainian PM was then given a tour of Smart Village — which he compared to models in the US, India and Finland — adding that the visit has encouraged him to take advantage of Ukraine's technological capabilities and knowledge economy to construct a similar complex dedicated to IT and communications.
