Ukrainian Defense Minister Pavlo Lebedev spoke highly of the military cooperation with China and voiced hope that the collaboration will be lifted to a higher level.

"The intensive political dialogue, first of all between senior military and political leaders of the two nations, contributes to the development of fruitful political-military and military-technical cooperation between Ukraine and China," Lebedev told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Lebedev recalled that Kiev and Beijing have established their strategic ties in 2011 and since then, the two sides have maintained frequent high-level communications and military education exchanges to make new contributions to the comprehensive strategic partnership.

"We conduct official visits and consultations on the issues of global and regional security, reforms of the armed forces, anti-piracy and anti-terrorist activities," Lebedev said.

In May, Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, visited Kiev. Soon after, Ukraine's First Deputy Defense Minister Oleksandr Oliynyk paid a visit to Beijing. Lebedev said the two countries laid out priorities for future cooperation during the visits.

The minister highlighted cooperation in military-technical sphere, saying it is playing an important role in the military ties between the two countries and has bright prospects for further development.

"The milestones of the military-technical cooperation are armored vehicles, aircraft equipment and munitions, shipbuilding, air defense systems and their components, as well as other promising areas," Lebedev said.

Besides, Kiev also hopes to develop its cooperation with Beijing to intensify the fight against terrorism, extremism and maritime piracy, said the minister.

"Given the vast experience of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy in combating maritime piracy, we are interested in joint naval exercises on the subject," Lebedev said.

For its part, Ukraine is ready to provide an opportunity for Chinese military personnel to get the training courses in its peacekeeping centers, the minister said.