11.03.03

Russia, Ukraine to begin gas consortium consultations in April

Russian and Ukraine will begin consultations in April this year regarding participation by other countries in the International Gas Consortium, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said after the eighth meeting of the joint Russian- Ukrainian cooperation commission.

"We are talking about a number of German companies that may participate in preliminary work to implement the project," he said.

In turn Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych said that now both sides have made significant progress in resolving the consortium issue. "We already have a concept, charter documents and we will get around to resolving issues in April 2003," Yanukovych said.