President hopes Ukraine will double trade with India by end of 2015

The economies of Ukraine and India can effectively complement each other and they have an enormous untapped potential for cooperation.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said this at a meeting with Indian business representatives in New Delhi on Monday, the presidential press service reported.

«Our economies can effectively complement each other. They have a huge untapped potential for cooperation that helps us set an ambitious goal - to double bilateral trade by the end of 2015,» he said.

He said that Ukraine was closely monitoring the decisive steps being taken by India to ensure its economic development. «In our opinion, Ukrainian businesses should take full advantage of this opportunity in order to deepen cooperation with their Indian partners,» the president said.

According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, trade in goods and services between Ukraine and India in 2011 was USD 3.12 billion and grew by 45.6% compared with 2010. The export of goods and services rose by 57.9%, reaching USD 2.3 billion, whereas imports grew by 19.4%, to USD 818.6 million. The surplus of Ukraine's trade in goods and services amounted to USD 1.482 billion.

Adapted from Ukrinform