Ukraine will long remain Europe's key provider of natural gas, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the international investment conference on modernization of Ukraine's gas transportation system in Brussels Monday, UKRINFORM reported.
Barroso emphasized that the European Union has close contacts with Ukraine, and their value is becoming even greater in this difficult time. In the crisis conditions, Europe does not forget about its neighbors, being profoundly concerned over the crisis impact on the Ukrainian economy and the citizens of Ukraine, and having decided to launch the Eastern Partnership initiative, he said adding that international finance institutions share their concern, and are also ready to help Ukraine with the whole spectrum of instruments to find a way out of crisis and pave the ground for stable growth.
He noted that the European Union would never interfere with Ukraine's home policy, yet stressing that the EU supports unity of positions between Ukraine's political leaders and its key institutes concerning fundamental economic measures required for overcoming the crisis.
Barroso emphasized that the purpose of the Monday declaration agreed by the European Commission, the Ukrainian government and representatives of the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank is to reform the whole of Ukraine's natural gas market to bring it closer to European standards, and modernize Ukraine's gas transportation system.
