Germany's government views Ukraine as successful economic partner, says federal economics official

11:27

Germany's government views Ukraine as a successful economic partner, and a country of great importance to Germany as an export market, according to a German economy ministry official

"Our government views Ukraine as a successful economic partner, which is very important for [German] exports," said the head of the German Economy Ministry's department of foreign trade, Peter Lorenz, while opening a German-Crimean economic forum in Simferopol on Tuesday.

The volume of Germen exports to Ukraine has exceeded EUR 8 billion," he said.

At the same time, Lorenz noted that taking into account the fact that Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe, it is of the same importance in terms of the export as Russia.

"Ukraine has a strong market which needs to be studied and developed, he said.

According to Lorenz, cooperation between the German and Ukrainian businessmen provides a unique opportunity for this.

At the same time, Ukraine is facing the important task of modernizing its economy, the German official said.