KIEV, December 26 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian-Iraqi trade has grown 67-fold from $1.5 million to $100 million since 1998, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Monday.
Ukrainian-Iraqi relations "could be much more closer," Yushchenko said after a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari.
Yushchenko proposed improving bilateral military, technical, engineering and energy cooperation.
"I expect today's talks with the Iraqi prime minister to launch real economic cooperation," he said.
The president also met with Ukrainian servicemen who had been deployed in Iraq 2.5 years ago and are to be withdrawn from the country by December 29.
Yushchenko said Ukrainian peacekeepers had fulfilled their mission in Iraq and helped promote trade and economic and political relations with the country.
According to the president, Ukraine's presence in Iraq helped the country strengthen its international positions.
"Ukraine became proactively involved in almost all the international political processes," Yushchenko said.
