Ukraine highly valued its economic and trade relationship with China and considered itself an important partner in the Belt and Road Initiative, he was quoted as saying.
Kachka also met the Chinese agricultural ministry’s chief veterinary officer, Li Jinxiang, in Beijing on Thursday.
“The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on China-Ukrainian agricultural cooperation,” the Chinese readout said.
His trip marked the first visit by a Ukrainian high-ranking official to China since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine nearly a year and a half ago. The war has put the “no limits” friendship between Beijing and Moscow under the microscope, and China faces mounting pressure for its refusal to condemn Russia.
Chinese President Xi Jinping had a long-awaited phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in April, after which Beijing sent its special envoy for Eurasian affairs Li Hui for a 12-day tour to Ukraine, Russia and four other European countries in May.
The meeting between Kachka and Ling was the most recent session of the inter-governmental cooperation committee’s economic and trade subcommittee between the two nations. The previous round dated back to August 2020 and took place in a virtual format during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest trade talks between Beijing and Kyiv were held as Moscow launched missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s southern port cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv as well as the country’s second-largest city Kharkiv. On Monday, Russia had pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a United Nations-brokered accord allowing the safe export of Ukraine’s grain over the past year.
Some 60,000 tonnes of agricultural products intended for export to China were destroyed when a port terminal was attacked by Russia, Zelensky said in a speech on Wednesday.
Russia’s attack on Thursday led to an explosion near China’s consulate in Odesa, and the blast wave shook off parts of the wall surface and window panes, the Chinese foreign ministry confirmed.
“The consulate staff had long left the premises and no one was hurt. China is closely following the developments and staying in touch with the parties concerned,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
During the meeting, Ling of China’s commerce ministry called on Ukraine to effectively guarantee the safety of the personnel and property of Chinese companies in Ukraine as well as their legitimate rights and interests.
Kachka said Kyiv would increase the protection of Chinese companies in Ukraine.
According to Yang Jin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Kachka’s visit showed that China and Ukraine had maintained “very strong relations” in traditional areas of collaboration and a “good” willingness for cooperation under complex geopolitical circumstances.
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