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Russia, Ukraine deputies look to power of combined industrial potential

MOSCOW, January 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Combined potential of Russian and Ukrainian industry will be assessed by deputies of Russia's lower house of parliament and opposite numbers from Kiev's Verkhovna Rada, the head of a Russian Duma committee said.

Pending issue of a statement on crisis in the neighbouring country, Leonid Slutsky, chairing the committee on Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Ties with Compatriots, said on Wednesday:

"We are ready to hold a meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian Interparliamentary Commission to discuss issues of combining our production capacities in such important spheres of cooperation as peaceful space and the nuclear industry.”

Russian deputies wanted to enhance cooperation with the Rada and its factions in extending a Russian-Ukrainian partnership, he added.

Slutsky said the Duma was ready to provide legislative support to large-scale joint projects initiated by the Russian and Ukrainian presidents when the intergovernmental commission met in December last year.

Deputies will address an agenda due for debate at a then-postponed commission meeting in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk in October.

Slutsky explained at the time that discussion, with participation from Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin, was to be held “at the highest level” and aimed to address issues of partnership in developing space and nuclear power.

But with the European Union Eastern Partnership summit pending, where Ukraine was due to sign the EU Association Agreement, the authority of Ukraine's cabinet of ministers in these sectors seemed “unclear and vague”, and required “additional agreement,” the deputy said.

Slutsky announced in December that the commission’s meeting was imminent. The previous session was held in the Russian city of Voronezh in May 2012.

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