KIEV, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's coal industry ministry and China's state development bank reached an agreement on cooperation in the coal industry Thursday.

"We have signed a document which provides an algorithm for further implementation of investment projects," Yuriy Yaschenko, the Ukrainian coal industry minister, told reporters after a meeting with Gao Jian, deputy head of the State Development Bank of China.

The memorandum applies to three investment projects to be launched in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine, Yaschenko said.

"Chinese experts have already arrived in Ukraine, they are now visiting the shafts. They will inspect the technical condition and consider how to implement these projects," Yaschenko said.

Gao said China's State Development Bank is willing to expand cooperation with Ukraine not only in the coal industry but also in agriculture, infrastructure construction and other fields.

Ukraine's coal industry and China's State Development Bank signed a framework agreement on financial cooperation on Sept. 2 during Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's visit to China.

Under the agreement, Ukraine's coal ministry presented to the Chinese side a package of seven investment projects with an estimated cost of more than one billion U.S. dollars.