President Viktor Yushchenko
had yesterday a meeting with European Commission Vice-President Günter
Verheugen devoted to Ukraine’s
energy policy, president's press office reported.
President Yushchenko
assured Vice-President Verheugen that Ukraine
observes its obligations on transit of Russian gas to Europe
and stressed that our country is capable of being reliable transit partner
further on.
President Yushchenko also
said that Ukraine
expects the conference on modernization of Ukrainian gas transport system,
scheduled on March 23, to be resulting. “This is a question of reliability of
gas supplies to Europe,” said Yushchenko.
Beside that the two
officials discussed integration of Ukraine into European electricity
market. Here Yushchenko said that “joining energy systems is a sensitive
question for us”.
In addition sides have
discussed European integration of Ukraine,
particularly preparation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the
EU, free trade agreement and the Eastern Partnership project.
Günter Verheugen expressed support
of Ukraine’s
European integration policy. “Ukraine
is a country of priority for me; in all questions I am working on in the EU I
see Ukraine
as top priority partner. This is our closest neighbor that shares common
values, history, culture and interests with us. I agree with the opinion that Ukraine must
become both political and economic part of the European Union,” he said.
