KIEV - A Ukrainian trade mission will travel to China in September in search for new business opportunities, a senior Ukrainian government official said on?Thursday.

"Currently, China is particularly important for us in the light of wide prospects for cooperation in many sectors," Natalia Mykolska, Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister, told a news briefing.

The delegation would pay special attention to developing business ties with Chinese partners in agriculture and machine building sectors, Mykolska said.

Ukraine's statistics showed China became the largest partner of the East European country last year in agriculture and food products, with bilateral trade rising by 39.5 percent to $1.3 billion.

The overall trade turnover between the two countries fell 15.4 percent to $5.5 billion in January-September of 2015, compared with the corresponding period of 2014, the data showed.