Ukraine and France agree on deepening bilateral cooperation

The Heads of Governments of Ukraine and France have agreed to elaborate a road map of bilateral cooperation for 2010-2011, according to Office of mass media relations of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Secretariat. Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Hryhoriy Nemyria announced to journalists, such an agreement had been reached in the course of meeting of Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko with Prime Minister of the French Republic François Fillon, held in the frameworks of an official visit of the Head of Ukrainian Government to France yesterday.

According to Hryhoriy Nemyria, prime ministers of the two states have come to a decision such road map is to define lines of cooperation and to contain the list of powerful joint investment projects. The Vice Premier stressed François Fillon had accepted with pleasure an invitation of Yulia Tymoshenko to visit Ukraine. It was agreed the visit is due in autumn of the current year so that the governments of the two states will sign a document on deepening of bilateral cooperation.

Besides, during the talks the Prime Minister of France expressed readiness of Government of his country to provide overall support to Ukraine in the process of gearing-up to the European Football Championship of 2012, taking into account the fact France has an experience of holding such events while the business circles of the state are ready to invest into the Euro-2012 projects. According to Hryhoriy Nemyria, the heads of the governments have decided to ink a respective international agreement within nearest time. As Yulia Tymoshenko opined during the meeting such a document would possibly be signed in April already.

Moreover, Vice Premier disclosed the heads of governments, in the course of negotiations, paid a great attention to the issues of cooperation in energy and gas spheres, in particular in terms of modernization of Ukrainian gas transport system. The counterparts agreed that the question of improvement of Ukrainian GTS should not be viewed apart from diversification of energy sources.

According to Hryhoriy Nemyria, in the process of talks cooperation between Ukraine and France in the scope of integration to the European Security and Defence Policy has been considered either.