India today inked a pact with Ukraine on Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection to take advantage of its expertise in the crucial sector. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych also signed four other pacts, including framework agreement to expand defence ties between the two countries after comprehensive talks. Our correspondent covering the Ukrainaian President's visit reports, both the leaders exchanged views on nuclear energy and nuclear safety, where they can learn a great deal from each other. After signing the agreement Dr Singh said, the unfortunate Chernobyl accident has given Ukraine valuable insight and knowledge in dealing with this critical issue.

Significantly, some of the experts working in Kudankulam nuclear plant are of Ukrainian origin.

In a press statement, the Prime Minister also said that the two countries were already undertaking a number of defence cooperation projects and today's defence cooperation agreement establishes a new framework for expending this cooperation.

Apart from nuclear safety and defence, the three pacts inked are– Cooperation in the Fields of Science and Technology, Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters and Standardisation, Conformity Assessment and Quality cooperation.

Both the leaders also exchanged views on regional and global issues and agreed to intensify their consultations in international forums.