NEWSBRIEFS (12/07/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Tyhypko offers to run for president

KYIV - National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Serhii Tyhypko said on November 28 that he is ready to run for the post of president in 2004 if "center parties" fail to agree on a single presidential candidate, Interfax reported. Mr. Tyhypko made his announcement at a Labor Ukraine party congress in Kyiv, at which he was re-elected party chairman. He said he opposes the idea of indirectly electing the country's president through the Verkhovna Rada. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine opens border post on Tuzla

TUZLA ISLAND - State Border Service head Mykola Lytvyn and Transport Minister Heorhii Kyrpa took part in an official ceremony on December 2 to mark the opening of a border post on Tuzla Island in the Kerch Strait, Interfax reported. The recent construction of a Russian dike in the area of the island has sparked a Russian-Ukrainian dispute over the island's ownership and the delimitation of the border in the Kerch Strait and Azov Sea. The border post facilities on Tuzla, which were constructed within a month, will accommodate 50 border guards. "This is a very important step in terms of the protection of Ukraine's territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders. The construction of the border post within such a short period testified to the capabilities of our state to rapidly react to challenges of the times," Our Ukraine lawmaker Ihor Ostash, head of the ad hoc parliamentary commission on the Tuzla issue, said in a message to the border guards on Tuzla. Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Kalyuzhnyi said on December 2 that Moscow has prepared a draft accord on the status of the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait and will soon pass it on to Kyiv for consideration. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Accord on oil-transport infrastructure

BRUSSELS - Polish Deputy Prime Minister Marek Pol and Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Vitalii Haiduk signed an agreement in Brussels on November 28 on linking the Polish and Ukrainian oil-transport systems by developing the Odesa-Brody-Plock pipeline for Caspian oil, Polish Radio reported. Caspian oil is to be pumped from Odesa to Brody and subsequently shipped by rail to Plock. The two sides are planning to build a Brody-Plock oil-pipeline link in the future. The document was also signed on behalf of the European Commission by Commissioner Loyola de Palacio. Mr. De Palacio commented that the accord will increase Poland's energy security. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Two parliamentary groups merge

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn announced on November 20 that two parliamentary caucuses, Ukraine's Regions and European Choice, have united under the name Ukraine's Regions, UNIAN reported. The new caucus, which is co-chaired by Raisa Bohatyriova and Volodymyr Pekhota, becomes the second-largest deputies' group in the Ukrainian Parliament. The current array of forces in the Verkhovna Rada is as follows: Our Ukraine (103 deputies), Ukraine's Regions (64), the Communist Party (60), the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs-Labor Ukraine (42), the Social Democratic Party-United (36), People's Power (21), the Socialist Party (20), the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (19), the Agrarian Party (16), People's Choice (14), and 22 independent deputies. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian PM visits Turkey

ANKARA - Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych visited Turkey on December 1-2, meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukrainian news agencies reported. The two reportedly discussed a wide range of issues pertaining to bilateral, regional and international cooperation. "Turkey expressed the desire to take part in the extension of the Odesa-Brody pipeline [to Plock in Poland], and we think this project has prospects," Mr. Yanukovych told a news conference in Ankara on December 2. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine's army reform wins NATO praise

KYIV - NATO defense ministers said in a statement on December 2 that they welcome Ukraine's progress in military reforms and encourage the country to continue in the same vein, Interfax reported. The statement followed a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission, at which Ukraine was represented by Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk. NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson also praised Kyiv for sending peacekeepers to Iraq and the Balkans, and described the country as an "exporter of stability," Reuters reported. Mr. Marchuk reportedly chided NATO for cooperating more actively with Russia than with Ukraine. He pledged that Ukraine's defense reforms, which are backed by NATO assistance, will speed up over the next two years and by 2006 the country's military force will be reduced to 200,000. (RFE/RL Newsline)

WB supports corporate restructuring

KYIV - The World Bank has earmarked $30 million for a long-term, low-interest loan to Ukraine to help reorganize 160 enterprises in six Ukrainian regions, Interfax reported. Some 600 advisers from Western consulting firms are to render assistance in this reorganization effort and train 350 Ukrainian managers in 2004-2007. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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