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27.07.2010 Putin’ says Russia & Ukraine will solve economic problems Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he was sure that Russia and Ukraine would be able to solve all economic problems in bilateral relations despite the fact that the two countries had plenty of them.“The trade turnover has reached its pre-crisis levels but we still have many problems,” the Russian prime minister said summing up the results of his brief talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. “As for the current plans, they are linked to our trade turnover, we are carrying out a number of anti-dumping investigations, investigations are under way in Ukraine although we agreed not to do that. We discussed the possibility of imposing limitations on exports of Russian glass to Ukraine. Ukraine is asking our oil and gas companies to increase or not to reduce the amount of pipe products purchased in Ukraine,” Putin went on to say. “These are current problems but their solution is important for economic activities and for individual enterprises,” the Russian prime minister said. “Yes, there are contradictions between our enterprises and our ministries but these are everyday problems: we find mutually acceptable solutions,” Putin explained. According to him, the merger of Ukraine’s Naftogaz and Russia’s Gazprom was not on the agenda of his meeting with Yanukovich. “We spoke about problems in our relations in the energy sector, about the development of pipeline transport and the gas transportation system in Ukraine and discussed the possibility of Russia’s participation in various project,” Putin went on to say. However, he added that those subjects were still “raw”. The Russian Black Sea fleet was not the subject of the talks in Foros. The only thing Putin said with regards to it was that Russian State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov would go to Sevastopol on Sunday to attend the celebrations of the Russian Navy Day, following orders from the president of Russia. Putin said that one of the purposes of his brief visit to Ukraine was to personally greet Viktor Yanukovich on his birthday. "Alliance Media" News Agency, based on the story by ItarTass |
