Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and his Slovakian counterpart Ivan Gashparovic vowed on Monday to enhance bilateral cooperation on border traffic and energy supplies.
"We have reached full mutual understanding in signing an agreement on small border traffic ... The agreement has been drawn up and is expected to be signed after internal procedures in Slovakia and Ukraine," Yushchenko said at a joint press conference with Gashparovic in Uzhgorod, a border city in western Ukraine.
Yushchenko stressed that the issue of holding joint customs checks with Slovakia is very important for Ukraine, as 2.5 million people and 750,000 tons of cargo cross the Ukrainian-Slovak border annually, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Gashparovic, who arrived in Ukraine for one-day working visit on Monday, said that Slovakia is paying great attention to the agreement on small border traffic.
He noted that in crossing the Ukrainian-Slovak border, people enter the European Union and, thus, the EU's existing rules should be taken into accounts.
"We have to consider and honor the opinions of the EU from the point of view of protecting its frontiers," he added.
Both sides also exchanged views on electricity supplies from Ukraine to Slovakia and pumping light Caspian oil across Slovakia to an oil refinery in the Czech Republic.
"We agreed to start implementation of the project to pump light Caspian oil via the small Druzhba (oil pipeline) across Slovakia to our European partners," Yushchenko told the press conference.
Source:Xinhua
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