The presidents of Ukraine and Russia have agreed to synchronize the development of the two national economies, an UKRINFORM correspondent reported from Russia.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych announced this at a meeting of the Ukrainian-Russian interstate commission at the Russian presidential residence in Gorki near Moscow on Friday.

Yanukovych said that the parties had already taken steps to deepen economic cooperation, in particular, in energy, shipbuilding and space exploration. "We agreed that we would bring our economies closer together. Thus, we are creating the conditions for the synchronization of our economies," he said.

The head of state said that a newly created high-level group on integration interaction would serve as a tool to implement joint strategic projects.

He acknowledged that the two countries had yet to resolve a number of issues, but "we discussed many of them with [Russian President] Dmitry Anatolyevich [Medvedev] and see the prospects for their solution."

Yanukovych said that Ukraine remained a reliable partner of Russia, in particular, in the transit of gas to Europe. "Russia, being a reliable supplier of gas not only to Ukraine, but also to Europe, has a reliable partner in Ukraine, which will not create any problems for our partners in Europe. It is very important that we are predictable, and Ukraine will always be such a partner in the political and economic context," the Ukrainian president said.

UKRINFORM