Ukrainian President Not Alarmed at Alternate Oil, Gas Transit Routes

Excerpt from report by Ukrainian news agency UNIAN

Kiev-Istanbul, 26 June: The South Stream [gas pipeline] project will not affect Ukraine’s interests, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko told journalists before returning to Kiev from Istanbul.

The president said that the basic tendency in the talks on the construction of new oil and gas pipelines remains the same – Ukraine’s role of a transit country is still essential for Europe. “We need to think how to strengthen and develop this part of our mission,” he said.

He added that in line with international trends, fuel and energy production and consumption will increase in the coming years. Therefore the president is confident that alternative transit routes will not affect Ukraine’s role of a transit country.

“Considering what is happening now in Europe with regard to more active supplies of oil and gas, Ukraine’s front place is important. I would say Ukraine’s prospects are improving. Today, I am more optimistic about Ukraine’s place on the European energy map,” Yushchenko said.

As reported earlier, on 23 June, [Russia's] Gazprom and the Italian ENI concern signed a memorandum of understanding on the South Stream project, which maps directions for their cooperation in the design, financing, construction and administration of a new gas pipeline from Russia to Europe along the bottom of the Black Sea.

[Passage omitted: more background]

[Ukraine and Turkey will start discussing the creation of a free trade zone on 28 June, UNIAN quoted Yushchenko at 1252 as saying in Istanbul. Yushchenko added Ukraine is also interested in creating free trade zones with Russia and Belarus, but only after such zones are formed with Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan, according to UNIAN's report at 1522 gmt.]

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