Ukraine's official visits China for the first time since the full-scale war

On Thursday, 20 July, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Taras Kachka met with Vice Minister of Commerce of China Ling Ji in Beijing. This is the first visit of a Ukrainian official to China since the full-scale war.

The Chinese official said that China is ready to expand imports of products from Ukraine and cooperate to develop bilateral economic and trade cooperation. This was reported by Reuters.

"China is ready to establish cooperative relations between the investment promotion agencies of the two countries and constantly expand the space for trade and investment cooperation," Ling said.

It is noted that China has expressed its willingness to cooperate to "actively develop mutually beneficial bilateral economic and trade cooperation".

For his part, Kachka said that Ukraine hopes to expand agricultural exports to China.

"The Ukrainian side will strengthen the security protection of Chinese-funded enterprises in Ukraine. We are ready to work together with China to promote healthy and sustainable development of economic and trade relations between the two countries," he said.

Kachka arrived in Beijing on Wednesday and is due to leave on Friday. The previous visit by a senior Ukrainian official to China was in 2019.

The visit followed the arrival of Ukraine's new ambassador and former Minister of Strategic Industries Pavlo Riabikin, who began his work last month, taking over the post that had been vacant since the death of his predecessor in February 2021.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported:

- EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano said that China's true intentions are not transparent, but it is likely not supporting Russia militarily and seems to be somehow keeping Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin under control, preventing him from raising the degree of brutality in the Russian-Ukrainian war. At the same time, Beijing is using Moscow for its own benefit;

- Li Hui, the Chinese government's special representative for Eurasian affairs, said that there are "many difficulties" between Ukraine and Russia. However, despite this, neither side has "closed the door" to negotiations.

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