Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko opened the Sorochyntsi fair on Wednesday and presented a silver coin depicting writer Nikolai Gogol as a gift to the organizers of the exhibition.
"The Sorochyntsi fair is the demonstration of our potential," he said during the fair's opening ceremony in the village of Velyki Sorochyntsi in Poltava region on Wednesday.
Yuschenko said that "we're currently witnessing a revived tradition of holding Sorochyntsi fairs." He said that at such fairs, "we're demonstrating, somebody more and somebody less, that we're Ukrainians."
He also expressed hope that Ukraine would be prospering as an independent state.
Yuschenko also presented a silver coin depicting Gogol as a gift to the organizers of the Sorochyntsi fair.
"This is a silver coin. It's necessary that there's money at the fair," he said.
