Viktor Yanukovych to Enhance Bilateral Cooperation With Poland

KYIV, Ukraine, February 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych plans to visit Poland February 3-4, according to the press-service of the President. The objective of the visit is to further enhance relations with Poland as a close neighbor and strategic partner of Ukraine. Previously Viktor Yanukovych stated that Ukraine should look at Poland as a role model for modernization.

During his official visit the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych will meet with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski as well as other leaders of the country and discuss trade, economic and investment projects, the upcoming Polish Presidency in the Council of the European Union as well as issues related to EURO-2012. It is also planned that both Yanukovych and Komorowski will open the Poland-Ukraine Economic Forum in Warsaw, participate in the Conference of Ukrainian and Polish regional heads and attend a press conference.

According to the Polish news agency PAP the state leaders will sign a roadmap of the Ukrainian-Polish cooperation for the 2011-2012.

On February 4, Yanukovych is scheduled to visit Gdansk and meet with local officials and business leaders.

Prior to his visit to Poland Viktor Yanukovych had an interview with the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza. In the course of the interview the President talked about his Polish roots.

Viktor Yanukovych also commented on Ukrainian-Polish relations: "Poland is Ukraine's largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe. For the ten months of 2010, our trade turnover amounted to over $5 billion - an increase of more than 35 percent compared to 2009." Yanukovych added that in the past two years, Polish investments in Ukraine rose by one third, and exceeded one billion dollars. "We should benefit from the Polish experience. Ukraine was strongly affected by the crisis, while Poland emerged from the global crisis with the least losses in Europe," stated the President. In the same time, Yanukovych stressed that Ukraine's eagerness to join the EU is, more than anything, a way to make the country meet the European standards.

Bronislaw Komorowski will come to Ukraine after the visit of the Ukrainian President.