The document says that the satellite study of dry land and the ocean, ecological monitoring, preventing and dealing with the effects of natural and man-made disasters, and joint research and technological experiments in the Russian segment of the International Space Station will be the priority fields of cooperation. The two countries will also join forces in studying outer space and the impact made by the Sun on the Earth and the moon; they will also continue work on the setting up of an international space research center in Yevpatoriya, Crimea.

They will coordinate efforts in promoting on the international market Russian-Ukrainian space services, commercial uses of the Zenit, Tsiklon and Dnepr launch vehicles and the launching pads at Baikonur, and will also support the Sea Launch project.

The two countries will begin taking numerous steps to develop mutually beneficial cooperation in production, technological and scientific activities between their space and aircraft-building industries. In this way, the two sides believe, the hardware and services will achieve a high quality and competitiveness.

Russia and Ukraine will meet their needs in aircraft and promote promising aircraft and advanced technologies on the world market. They will support the development of the An-70 aircraft, "the most promising top-priority program in cooperation between Ukraine and Russia in the field of aircraft construction."

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Leonid Kuchma have told their cabinets to take the required steps aimed at implementing the statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (sitting L) and his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma (R) give a press conference 12 February 2001 after a document-signing ceremony in front of the Zenit rocket. The rocket is being prepared for the next International Sea Launch project at the final assembly plant of the rocket-maker Yuzhmash in Dnipropetrovsk. Putin arrived in Ukraine 11 February 2001 for a one-day working visit in a bid to widen relations between the two countries in the space and energy sectors. Copyright AFP/EPA - Photo by Sergei Supinsky

During Putin's visit to The Ukraine, Russian Aerospace Agency chief Yuri Koptev noted that their were good prospects for cooperation Russia and Ukraine, including in designing rocket boosters, has good prospects, head of the Russian Aerospace Agency Yuri Koptev has said.

Russian-Ukrainian aerospace cooperation "has never been stopped, and the historical relations have been preserved," Koptev told Interfax in Dnipropetrovsk, where a Russian-Ukrainian summit is underway.

The summit displays both sides' interest in bilateral cooperation, including in designing rocket boosters, Koptev said. He referred to the intention of Russia and Ukraine to use a transformed model of the SS-18 missile.

The summit will broaden Ukraine's chances of taking part in the international space program together with Russia, Koptev said.

The two presidents' attention to aerospace cooperation shows that joint work has good prospects, he added.

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