Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said that Ukraine has every chance of becoming a powerful state.
"We have every chance of becoming a powerful and serious state that will develop rapidly," the government’s press office quoted the Ukrainian premier, who is on a working visit to the southern Chinese city of Sanya, as saying.
When asked whether Ukraine could join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Azarov said that "the question of Ukraine’s joining or not joining any union is a question that depends on us – on how quickly we emerge from crisis and become powerful."
He referred to the experience of China, which had been developing rapidly for 30 years. He noted that the pace of the country’s annual GDP growth exceeded 10% and that China was ahead of Ukraine in terms of per capita GDP.
"This would have been strange five years ago… It’s because we marked time for five years, while China was developing dynamically. We need to solve our problems, quickly achieve rapid development, growth in public income, and then, if necessary, we will think of accession," he said.
As reported, the Ukrainian prime minister is on an official visit to China.
