Russo-Ukrainian agreement on forming gas consortium to be signed October 6

An agreement on forming an international gas consortium will be signed on October 6th in Zaporozhye (Ukraine), said Russia's ambassador to Kiev Viktor Chernomyrdin Tuesday.

According to Chernomyrdin, the agreement on setting up the consortium is almost ready. Experts from the Justice Ministries of Ukraine and Russia are drafting the document. Their task is to bring this document in line with national legislations, both Russian and Ukrainian. The ambassador emphasised the importance of the future consortium, which is a very high-priced and costly project, to work efficiently.

Chernomyrdin did not rule it out that the European countries would join the consortium in the future. He stressed that Russia and Ukraine would form the consortium on a parity basis, as had been agreed at Kuchma-Putin meeting in St. Petersburg.