Another significant agreement signed between the two countries after the delegation level talks between the visiting Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych and the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday is the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Defence.

In all five agreements was inked between the two countries.

The Agreement for Safety and Radiation Protection was signed by the Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) of India, Dr Satinder Singh Bajaj and the Head of State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine, Olema A Mykolaichuk.

The Agreement flows from the continuing interaction between AERB and the Ukrainian nuclear regulator and will now allow them to cooperate in a structured format. The Agreement envisages cooperation in some very important regulatory activities, including legislative regulations, safety guides and technical criteria on nuclear safety; site, design, construction, operation, decommissioning of nuclear facilities; waste management and environment impact.

India intends to take advantage of Ukraine’s expertise in this crucial sector.

The nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then part of the erstwhile USSR) is one of only two classified accidents as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011.

Significantly, some of the experts working in Kudankulam nuclear plant are of Ukrainian origin. The Kundankulam project 1 & 2 are with Russian collaboration. Ukraine has about 15 nuclear power reactors, power plants of the VVER kind.

India participated in the Kiev Summit on safe and innovative use of nuclear energy which was held in April 2011 on the 25th anniversary of the horrific Chernobyl tragedy and had announced a grant of $ 1 million to Ukraine for various activities that have been held to counter the effects of the tragedy.

“President Yanukovych and I also exchanged views on nuclear energy and nuclear safety, where we can learn a great deal from each other. The unfortunate Chernobyl accident has given Ukraine valuable insight and knowledge in dealing with this critical issue. Through the Agreement that has just been signed between the nuclear regulatory authorities of both sides, we have agreed to share our experiences in nuclear safety and radiation protection. I also complimented President Yanukovych for his initiative to host the Kyiv Summit on Safe and Innovative Use of Nuclear Energy in April 2011 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident,” said the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

The Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Defence was signed between Indian Defence Minister AK Antony and Ukraine Minister of Defence Dmytro A Salamatin.

“The Agreement will provide the framework for expanding our military technical cooperation on an institutionalized basis. It envisages mechanisms to be set up for promoting defence cooperation. It will pave the way for moving our relationship to a new plane, that of joint research and development in the future,” said Dr Singh.

India-Ukraine defence cooperation has been quite healthy. Nearly 30% of the defence industry of erstwhile Soviet Union was located in Ukraine which is why India sought Ukraine’s help in AN32 modernisation. Ship engines of the Indian Navy are being regularly sourced from Ukraine. Also India’s MiG-23 engines are being overhauled in Ukraine. Motor Sich which supplies a lot of helicopter engines to India

Ukraine is overhauling and modernizing the Indian Air Force’s AN32 fleet as per contracts signed in 2009 and at a worth about $ 520 million. There was a $ 400 million contract for what is called the life extension of the aircraft, and about $ 120 million was for engines.

The contract signed in 2009 was for 100 aircraft. Part of the aircraft are to be upgraded in Ukraine and the majority are to be done in India. As far as the first lot is concerned, the work in Ukraine is more than half way through and then the scene will shift to India where the modernization will take place. About 25 aircraft which have been upgraded. The fifth or the sixth lot is in Ukraine. The number will go up to the number 40, after which the balance work would be then done in India.

India and Ukraine also signed a Agreement on Cooperation in the Fields of Science and Technology and a Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters.

With a view to boost bilateral trade between the two countries, a Memorandum of Understanding in the Field of Standardisation, Conformity Assessment and Quality between the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.

The MoU is in continuation of a similar MoU signed for a period of five years in 2005. It envisages enhanced economic engagement through elimination of technical barriers to trade and economic relations.

The bilateral trade turnover has increased from $138.62 million in 1992 to $ 2,865.45 million in 2011-12. Indian pharmaceutical exports to Ukraine are the largest by volume and second in terms of value ($325 million in 2011) for the past several years. India imports 25% of sunflower oil production of Ukraine, which is amongst the world's largest producers of sunflower oil.

So, there has been a substantial increase. India’s exports are about $ 490 million and these are primarily pharmaceutical products. India imports a number of commodities from Ukraine like fertilizers, iron and steel, vegetable fats and oils and so on.

A unit of the Indian Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers Association based in Kiev which has been functioning since last ten years. An Indian company called Kalpataru won a bid for putting up power transmission lines. The bid was won in 2010-11. It is an about 120 million Euro contract.

Addressing a business meeting jointly organised by the three apex Indian industry bodies – Assocham, CII and FICCI, Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych said :”we need to raise our bilateral trade to the level of $8billion by 2015.”

The Indian industry complained about the regime of mandatory registration of drugs in Ukraine acting as deterrent to business.

The Indian Minister of State for Commerce D Purandeswari said that India needs to import fertilisers from Ukraine and Indian industry need to invest in Ukraine in fertiliser, mining and construction sectors.

The Ukraine President is slated to address Ukrainian-Indian Business Forum at Bengaluru on Wednesday. He will also visit biotechnology gaint Bicon and and IT major Infosys.