Prime Ministers agree Slovakia to boost gas volumes to Ukraine

posted 07 September 2016 03:09

Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman met with Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico in the framework of his working visit to Poland to participate in the 26-th Economic Forum in Krynica Zdrój on Tuesday.

"We are deeply interested in increasing cooperation, notably in the energy sector, gas transit, gas production", stressed Volodymyr Groysman.

The Prime Minister outlined key lines of deepening collaboration with Slovakia, among which are joint infrastructure projects, a reform of the Ukrainian customs, namely, the formation of joint databases, border crossing projects, as well as attracting of Slovak business in Ukraine.

In turn, Prime Minister Robert Fico assured of the readiness of the Government of Slovakia to boost gas volumes to Ukraine.

In the process of discussion of cooperation between the two states in the energy sphere, Prime Minister Robert Fico pledged maximum assistance in transportation of Caspian oil through the territory of Slovakia and Ukraine to the Czech oil refinery in Kralupy.

In the framework of the EU Summit in Bratislava, the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic reassured that the focus of the meeting would be relations between Ukraine and the EU, particularly regarding the speedy resolution of issues related to the introduction of visa regime for Ukraine and the ratification of the Association Agreement.

Prime Minister Robert Fico invited Volodymyr Groysman to visit the Slovak Republic, in particular in the period of holding by Slovakia of the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. The Head of the Government accepted the offer.

Another topic of the negotiations was intensifying trade and economic cooperation between the countries. The parties agreed to resume work of the Ukrainian-Slovak Intergovernmental Commission on economic, industrial, scientific and technical cooperation and to hold a meeting in Ukraine in the near future.