The political and economic crisis in Ukraine has not yet had a significant negative impact on its trade relations with China, spokesman of China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) Shen Danyang said at a monthly news conference in Beijing.

"Presently, the Chinese-Ukrainian trade and economic cooperation remains normal in general," he said.

The MOFCOM spokesman admitted that devaluation of the Ukrainian currency will have a certain influence on the Chinese-Ukrainian trade, but the Chinese side believes that this phenomenon "will be temporary."

"China is willing to maintain close relations with Ukraine, mutually beneficial cooperation and hopes for prompt stabilization of the situation in this country to ensure that the Chinese-Ukrainian trade and economic cooperation return to normal as soon as possible," Danyang said, adding that his country attaches increased attention to the tense situation in Ukraine and is closely monitoring the developments.

China is Ukraine's second largest trading partner in the world. According to statistics from China's General Administration of Customs, in 2013 bilateral trade amounted to USD 11.12 billion, an increase of 7.3% compared with 2012. In particular, exports from China to Ukraine reached USD 7.85 billion, an increase of 7.1%, while imports from Ukraine - USD 3.27 billion with an increase of 7.9% (a surplus in favor of China - USD 4.5 billion). At the same time, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the bilateral trade last year totaled USD 8.14 billion, up by 14.6% in annual terms: imports from China USD 6.09 billion (an increase of 6.3%), exports USD 2.04 billion (up 48.8%), deficit - USD 4.05 billion.

Both sides have recently discussed the implementation of cooperation projects in many fields, including agriculture, energy, infrastructure, etc.

Ukrinform