Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he highly appreciates the prospects for cooperation with Ukraine in the aviation industry.
When visiting state enterprise Antonov in Kyiv on Monday, the Venezuelan president praised Ukrainian aviation technologies, as well as Antonov’s promising developments.
Chavez inspected the new regional An-148 and An-158 aircraft, military and transport An-70 aircraft, multi-purpose An-32s and An-74s, and heavy transport An-124 airplanes.
"I liked all of the aircraft," said Chavez, asked if Venezuela plans to buy Ukrainian aircraft.
According to him, during his meeting with President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian and Venezuelan parties agreed to establish a joint ad hoc group to study and work on proposals to develop cooperation in this sector.
Ukraine and Venezuela have experience of cooperating in the aviation industry. In 2007, the aviation agencies of Venezuela approved a certificate for the production and maintenance of short-haul An-140s and multi-purpose turbo-jet An-74s at Kharkiv State Aircraft Manufacturing Company.
Currently, according to data from Antonov, Latin America operates 194 An aircraft. Some 15 airplanes are used in Venezuela.
When visiting Antonov, Chavez was accompanied by Industry Minister Dmytro Kolesnikov, Education Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk, and head of state company Ukrspetsexport Dmytro Salamatin.
