Kiev, Dec 3 (EFE) Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have signed several agreements here, bolstering bilateral strategic cooperation.
“We signed a joint declaration in which we gave the status of strategic cooperation to our relations,” Yushchenko said at a joint press conference with Lula, who arrived in Ukraine Tuesday on a state visit.

During the talks held Wednesday all current difficulties were overcome in the area of bilateral space cooperation, which will lead in 2010 to the launch of a Ukrainian rocket from Brazil’s Alcantara base on the Equator, Yushchenko said.

The problems were mainly technical in nature, the Ukrainian leader added.

“There were some matters related to infrastructure, to licences. Purely technical issues. All those were resolved today,” Yushchenko said.

The Ukrainian president told reporters that Kiev and Brasilia intend to develop their cooperation in the technical-military area also.

“This cooperation is to strengthen the defensive potential of the two countries, to reinforce the security factor. This, I’m convinced, is the No. 1 national priority in Ukraine and also in Brazil,” Yushchenko said.

A group of Brazilian experts is currently in Ukraine to hold consultations on military cooperation, Yushchenko said.

The Ukrainian leader noted the opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the area of the peaceful use of nuclear energy and noted that his country produces 90 percent of everything necessary to build a nuclear electricity facility.

Also Wednesday, the two countries signed an accord to lift visa requirements, a move that will facilitate tourism between the two nations.