Brussels – Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has said that political support and consolidation are required to implement a project on the creation of the Euro-Asian oil transport corridor.
The head of state made the comment in Brussels on Thursday, following his meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
Yushchenko said that the issue had been discussed last week.
“We believe that the full implementation of the project should be ensured at the technical and economic levels,” Yushchenko said.
He said that there currently was no cheaper route to supply Caspian oil to Europe than that proposed by Ukraine.
“The project has no problems from the economic and technical point of view. Afeasibility study [for the project ] has been approved. The issue currently concerns the political element, as everyone understands that the question of supporting such a project is not especially commercial,” Yushchenko said.
He said that Poland and Lithuania had already supported the Ukrainian project.
“We have agreed that we will cooperate on this issue,” Yushchenko said.
“It’s necessary to make every effort, first and foremost, political [efforts] … and demonstrate a common political will in Ukraine, so that this is not [seen as] an intrigue by a certain political group – whether the Odesa-Brody [oil pipeline] project should be launched in its designed mode or not. Everything should be done in Ukraine’s interests. This context most closely meets European interests,” he said.
