China, Ukraine sign slew of agreements related to B&R

China and Ukraine on Tuesday signed an action plan on jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road and agreed to deepen all-round collaboration to strengthen their strategic partnership at the third session of the China-Ukraine Intergovernmental Commission on bilateral cooperation in Kiev, capital of Ukraine.

The meeting, co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv, concluded that bilateral cooperation has made good progress since the second session of the commission in Beijing in 2013.

China and Ukraine have advanced their cooperation in areas such as trade, agriculture, science and technology, education, culture and healthcare.

The action plan signed on jointly building the Belt and Road will see enhancement of the proposal put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

The plan envisions building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes.

Tuesday’s meeting also saw the two sides sign a series of agreements on agriculture, energy efficiency and renewable energy, culture, healthcare and education as well as other sectors, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The China-Ukraine Intergovernmental Commission was launched in 2011 as a core mechanism to coordinate and plan all-round cooperation between the two countries.

The next meeting of the commission will be held in China in 2019, according to Xinhua.

In the first three quarters of this year, trade between the two countries grew 14.5 percent to $5.6 billion, Ukraine news site interfax.com.ua reported Tuesday.