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Ukrainian Leaders, Polish Minister Discuss "Gas Conflict", Energy Security

Posted on: Tuesday, 10 January 2006, 12:00 CST

Text of report by Polish radio on 10 January

[Announcer] Poland's chief diplomat believes that the gas crisis has made Europe aware of the need for joint thinking about energy security. According to Stefan Meller, the European Union, along with Ukraine, should start a debate on a new order for handling energy resources. The minister has been paying a working visit to Kiev.

[Reporter] Poland's chief diplomat had meetings with President Viktor Yushchenko, parliament Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn and Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk. He gathered information about the gas conflict and ways of resolving it. He emphasised that in early January the whole of Europe had been given a lesson - a lesson about the need to think together about energy security.

He noted that Poland would appeal to its friends in the Union to deal with the case. And talks of this kind, he added, cannot be pursued without Ukraine.

Borys Tarasyuk explained that Kiev had drawn certain conclusions from the gas conflict. Energy-saving technologies have to be introduced, the extraction of gas in Ukraine - which is among the world's 20 states with its greatest reserves - has to be increased and diversification of gas sources should be emphasised, Tarasyuk said.

But Stefan Meller noted that in the debate about gas diversification we need to look for a common denominator, rather than creating antagonisms.

Source: BBC Monitoring European

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