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Ukraine, Hungary discuss cooperation in energy
sector
Kiev, Dec 12, 2006 (BBC Monitoring via COMTEX)
Ukrainian Minister of Fuel and Energy Yuriy Boyko
and representatives of the Hungarian government discussed
on 11 December in Kiev the issues of cooperation in
the energy sector, including the prospects for delivering
Ukrainian electricity and natural gas to that country.
"A wide range of issues related to cooperation between
our country and Hungary in the energy sector was discussed.
We think there is a great possibility for cooperation,"
Boyko told journalists late on Monday [11 December]
after the negotiations were over. Boyko pointed to
"the full understanding of our Hungarian colleagues
regarding the increase of electricity deliveries and
expansion of cooperation in trade of natural gas at
the border".
"We see that there are a number of projects that
the Hungarian businesses are ready to implement in
our country; these include construction of hydro-power
plants as well as expansion of the current power grids
for delivering electricity to Hungary," the minister
added. Gyorgy Gilyan, who is in charge of developing
economic cooperation with eastern countries in the
Hungarian government, said, in turn, "Hungary continues
to consider Ukraine a strategic partner in energy
cooperation, and we count on increasing the effectiveness
of the cooperation." However, Boyko did not give a
direct answer when asked which companies would be
importing Ukrainian electricity to Hungary in 2007.
"Our government's principled position is to ensure
the priority of selection of those partners that invest
money in our economy. We would be picking partners
based on this criterion. We, of course, have a positive
experience and long-term contracts with businesses.
We will take this into consideration, too," Boyko
said. Attending the negotiations were Mykola Pashkevich,
president of the state company Ukrinterenergo, the
operator of the Ukrainian electricity export; Miklos
Merenyi, state secretary for foreign economic issues
of the Hungarian Ministry of Economy and Transport;
as well as heads of several Hungarian companies.
Source: Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian
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