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Ukraine is interested in stepping up its cooperation with China, particularly in the military-technical area, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said.

"Cooperation between our countries in the military-technical and military areas, which have previously been ignored by us, will from now on become a reality," the minister was quoted as saying after his five-days visit to China, in a press release issue by the Defense Ministry on Monday.

Yekhanurov particularly stressed the fruitful cooperation between Ukrainian aircraft makers and China. He is convinced that this area is one of the priorities in the bilateral cooperation, according to the press release, a copy of which was obtained by Interfax-AVN.

The minister emphasized the efficient work of Motor Sich and the Antonov Aviation Research and Technical Complex. "There is a question of governmental support to the Antonov Complex and other our aircraft making companies," he said.

There has been a long need for the joint bilateral production of the new L-15 plane, he said.

Currently, the Ukrainian Ministry is working on a program to create a corvette, Yekhanurov said when asked about the purpose of his visit to the Chinese naval base in Shanghai.

"We are now looking at whatever the world has best and rational to offer and with a good price/quality ratio. This is what this part of our program was focused on," the minister said.

Cooperation between Ukraine and China involving Russian companies would be particularly interesting and promising, Yekhanurov said.

"I think that time has come for the three of us to negotiate and agree upon joint projects. I am talking about military-transport aircraft, training naval aviation officers, and ship building. I think that this subject of cooperation will have a future. I would very much like to see this met with understanding among our Russian colleagues," the minister said.

As for developing the military-technical cooperation between the two countries in light of Ukraine's plans to join NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), this seems to be acceptable for our Chinese colleagues, he said.

"We are interested in developing good relations with all countries, primarily, with our neighbors. But in today's global world it is difficult to say who is your close neighbor and who is the distant one. We are all close," the minister said.