The trade turnover between Ukraine and Hungary in the first ten months of 2011 increased by 35% compared to the same period last year. The two countries are planning to double this figure and reach the level of USD 4.5 billion. Ukrainian Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk and Hungarian Minister for National Development Tamas Fellegi announced this at a Ukrainian-Hungarian business forum in Odesa.

Ukraine and Hungary have a long history of effective economic, trade and investment partnership. In the first three quarters of this year, exports of Ukrainian goods grew by almost 64%, whereas imports rose by 15%.

"Ukraine actively exports energy, mineral resources, machinery and agricultural products to Hungary. But we are planning to reach the volume of exports of the pre-crisis period in 2007," Prysiazhniuk said.

"The territorial and economic opportunities for our countries should be effectively used in order to strengthen their role in Eurasia. We have productively used the fact that Hungary is a member of the EU and that Ukraine is a member of the free trade area with the CIS. Therefore, we can freely promote our products on both markets," he added.

Fellegi, in turn, said that the development of eastern partnership, including with Ukraine, was currently a priority for his country. The main areas of cooperation will be information technology, infrastructure and agriculture, he added.

"We are ready to finance a number of joint projects and invest about USD 1 billion in the Ukrainian economy. Only under these conditions, we can fully realize our geographic and economic potential," the Hungarian minister said.

Ukrinform