You're reading: Medvedev to visit Ukraine

Moscow - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during a working visit to Kyiv on Wednesday intends to draw attention to the issue of guaranteeing the lawful rights of Russian investors in Ukraine.

He will meet Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and take part in the ninth session of the committee for economic cooperation of the Russian-Ukrainian interstate commission chaired by the prime ministers of the two countries.

“The Russian side intends to draw special attention to the problem of guaranteeing the lawful rights of Russian investors in Ukraine. The issue is crucial for expanding investment cooperation and implementing major joint economic projects,” a source on the Russian Cabinet told Interfax.

The source said that the question of speeding up Ukraine’s ratification of the CIS free trade zone treaty would be raised. Russia completed ratification procedures last April.

The committee session is also expected to mull pressing issues of trade and economic cooperation, efforts to further boost mutual trade, the prospects of cooperation in energy, transport, aerospace, agriculture, credits and finance, science and technology as well as the agenda of regional and transborder cooperation.

The committee for economic cooperation is a key joint body coordinating and monitoring the implementation of bilateral understandings in trade, economy and investment. Its sessions are held alternatively in Russia and Ukraine – the first one was held in Kyiv on October 4, 2006 and the latest on June 7, 2011 in Moscow.

In 2011 trade turnover between Russia and Ukraine jumped 36% compared to 2010 exceeding $50 billion which was more than before the crisis ($40 billion in 2008). Ukraine is the fourth biggest foreign trade partner of Russia after China, the Netherlands and Germany and the biggest among CIS countries.