By Gary Anderson

Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Gennady Chizhikov (left) and NOCU President Sergey Bubka shake hands on new Memorandum of Cooperation ©NOCUThe National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOCU) has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The agreement was signed between NOCU President Sergey Bubka and Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Gennady Chizhikov at NOCU headquarters in Kyiv.

The MoC aims to create an environment for initiating joint discussions, conferences, forums and sports events to further develop the Olympic Movement in Ukraine, as well as prepare athletes in the build-up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

"After the number of contacts and negotiations between the officials of the NOC and the Chamber [of Commerce and Industry] we came to the point that we have a lot of areas for joint programmes and activities," said pole vault world record holder Bubka, who is a member of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee and vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

"We then [made] a reasonable decision to formalise our cooperation."

Bubka added that the support of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry will provide new possibilities for promotion of the Olympic Movement and ideals.

"Healthy lifestyle should become the leading philosophy for the whole nation including people who are involved in the economic area, industry and commerce," he said.

"I look forward to our cooperation which could help to attract new partners for the sake of sport of Ukraine and Olympic Movement."

The MoC will also facilitate the provision of a number of NOCU projects including the installation of Ukraine's House at the Olympic Games in Rio and next year's European Games in Azerbaijan capital Baku.

In addition, a decision was made to create a Ukrainian Walk of Fame in Kyiv.

"Our activity is aimed for active, patriotic and motivated people," said Chizhikov.

"We thus share the values of the Olympic Movement, supporting and promoting healthy living and bring up the generations of the responsible strong-minded sport oriented citizens of Ukraine."

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