Yushchenko seeks EU political support to Eurasian oil transport corridor
BRUSSELS. Oct 15 (Interfax) - Political support and consolidation are necessary for building a Eurasian oil transport corridor, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said after the Thursday meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels.
"We think that every technical and economic condition has been created for this project," he said. There is no cheaper way to deliver Caspian oil to the European Union than the one suggested by Ukraine, he remarked.
"We have no economic and technical problems. A feasibility study has been approved. Now it is the question of the political component. Everyone understands this is not a purely commercial matter," he said.
Poland and Lithuania have supported the Ukrainian proposal, Yushchenko said. "We agreed to cooperate and to make progress," he noted.
"Efforts, primarily those political, must be taken. Ukraine must display a common political will. This is not an intrigue of a particular party group - to start up the Odesa-Brody pipeline the way it was designed or not. Everything we do must meet the interests of Ukraine. This policy will meet common European interests best," he said.
Once Europe gets the land route for Caspian oil delivery suggested by Ukraine, the Ukrainian position of a strategic transit country and political weight in European affairs will grow, Yushchenko said.
"This is an applied integration project Ukraine must implement together with the European Union," Yushchenko said.