Relations with major economic partners a priority for Yushchenko administration (03/20/05)

Relations with major economic partners a priority for Yushchenko administration

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - During his first two months in office, President Viktor Yushchenko and his Cabinet have made it their serious priority to improve Ukraine's relations with its major economic partners.

In their public appearances, Mr. Yushchenko's crew has echoed a common theme: Ukraine wants to start anew.

"We are a team that can achieve an absolutely new level of quality," Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told the Polish delegation of ministers visiting Kyiv in early March.

President Yushchenko and his team have already secured new economic pacts with the leaders of Poland and Germany.

Ms. Tymoshenko's meetings with Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka resulted a pact creating a committee on economic cooperation that will consist of Polish authorities and Ukrainian Cabinet Ministers.

This agreement will be favorable toward the economic development of both nations, particularly the entrance of Polish companies into the Ukrainian market and strengthening their position, Polish officials said.

The main priority of Ms. Tymoshenko's talks with Mr. Belka was creating the broadest possible cooperation with fuel and energy projects, particularly pumping oil through the Odesa-Brody pipeline as originally planned.

Mr. Belka said he is ready to form a joint committee in order to begin work on extending the Odesa-Brody pipeline to the cities of Plotsk and Gdansk in Poland.

Ms. Tymoshenko also suggested to Mr. Belka the possibility of Ukraine exporting gas to Poland, and they discussed diversifying gas delivery from underground sources.

The agreement also states that Ukraine will remain an important economic partner with Poland, even after it would join the European Union (EU) because it is within the framework of the EU and World Trade Organization obligations.

While Ms. Tymoshenko was reaching consensus with the Poles, President Yushchenko paid a 48-hour visit to Germany on March 8, where he was given the rare honor of addressing the Bundestag, the nation's parliamentary body.

Mr. Yushchenko witnessed the signing of a significant pact between Naftohaz Ukrainy and Deutsche Bank, which extended a 2 billion euro line of credit that would enable the Ukrainian energy behemoth to bring its gas division up to European standards.

Naftohaz chairman Oleksii Ivchenko accompanied President Yushchenko on the trip.

Building on Ms. Tymoshenko's accomplishments with the Poles, the Deutsche Bank pact also included funds to help extend the Odesa-Brody pipeline to Plotsk.

Agreements were reached to bring Russia into serious discussions to create a three-way gas consortium, as well as establish Ukrainian-Polish-German trade to transport Caspian gas to Western Europe (by means of the Odesa-Brody pipeline).

During the visit, Mr. Yushchenko assured German businessmen that "the administration will help business," that for him "business is always right" and that "there won't be any favors for any business group," reported the Web Ukrainska Pravda website.

Hammering the point that Ukraine wants another chance at economic opportunity, he told the packed Bundestag that Ukraine is ready for big continental projects involving energy.

During the visit, Mr. Yushchenko announced that Europeans will be able to enter Ukraine without a visa by the end of March.

In return, Mr. Yushchenko asked German politicians to ease visa restrictions for Ukrainian youths, students, journalists, artists and businessmen as they yearn to interact with Germans.

The timing of Mr. Yushchenko's comment was slightly awkward, as German Prime Minister Joschka Fischer currently stands accused of relaxing the nation's visa regime between 1999 and 2001 and allowing excessive numbers of illegal immigrants, some of them criminals and prostitutes, to enter from Ukraine.

When asked about Mr. Yushchenko's NATO drive, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder remarked, "Germany is supporting Ukraine's entrance into Euro-Atlantic structures."

Mr. Schroeder also said that Germany will be "an important partner of Ukraine with the question of entry into European structures."

Those comments bode well for the work of Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk, who on March 17 announced six goals for his ministry to accomplish in 2005.

The goals are: improving the diplomatic missions network, opening the world for Ukrainians, creating transparent borders for people and business but shutting them for criminals, integrating with Europe, enhancing international trade and spreading Ukrainian culture overseas.

Mr. Tarasyuk confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive for a one-day working visit to Ukraine on March 19 to meet with Mr. Yushchenko, Prime Minister Tymoshenko and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn.

"We're placing high hopes that the visit will offer the possibility of continuing the private dialogue that took place immediately after the inauguration ceremony on January 23," Mr. Tarasyuk said.

The two leaders have important problems to resolve this year, he said. They will discuss international policy, and economic, political and humanitarian issues.

"Don't expect any documents to be signed," said Oleksii Plotnikov, the head of international currency division at the Institute of Global Economics and International Relations. "It's not worth waiting for anything revolutionary from Putin's visit. More than anything it will be a visit to familiarize himself."

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