he Odesa-Brody oil pipeline will be filled with process oil in the near future. The statement to this effect was made by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev at a news conference following bilateral talks in Baku, UKRINFORM correspondent reported with reference to the presidential web-site.
"We will launch trial oil pumping in the near time in order to test the project in practice," Ilham Aliyev said.
Viktor Yushchenko noted that the parties fulfill all accords to develop the project on the Caspian oil supply via the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline to the EU countries, including the accord reached at the Kyiv Energy Summit on supply of the Caspian process oil via the pipeline. "The two parties, including the joint venture Sarmatia, are moving forward in frames of the agreements implementation reached during the previous meetings," President Yushchenko said assuring that "there are no problems on these issues at the level of the states".
According to the Azeri President, a feasibility study is being prepared which should demonstrate a commercial attractiveness of the project. Technical oil pumping the Azeri party is ready for will also present a picture of the project prospects. "We will start doing first steps in the near future when all technical issues are coordinated, including the routes of the Caspian oil supply to the Black Sea region," Aliyev stressed.
He also reported the sides discussed energy cooperation of the two states. "After the Kyiv Energy Summit we expect intensification of the process of coordination of all the terms of our energy cooperation and we also hope to achieve serious solutions which will define the energy cooperation in the region till a Baku summit to be held this autumn," he said. The issue becomes more and more significant, taking into account the importance of the energy resources diversification both for suppliers and consumers, Aliyev underscored.
Apart from this, the two presidents mooted economic cooperation and mutual investments, humanitarian and cultural cooperation, Ukraine-Azerbaijan interaction at the international level.
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