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The Ukrainian ambassador to Azerbaijan: â€œThe European Union made a profit on the gas conflictâ€

16 January 2009 12:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Lachin Sultanovaâ€“APA. Ukrainian ambassador to Azerbaijan Boris Klimchuk held a press conference on Friday dedicated to the gas conflict between his country and Russia. The ambassador stated that not the peoples, but the political elites would lose in this row. In his opinion, the European Union made a profit on the conflict as EU experts got opportunity to learn the gas transportation systems of Ukraine and Russia. â€œThis field already was an intimate sphere of the business, but now it becomes publicâ€. The diplomat said he saw the solution to the problem in returning to the December 31, 2008 situation and added that he hoped all issues would be resolved in Moscow summit tomorrow. Klimchuk said the gas summit would start in Kiev today and to finish in Moscow tomorrow.

The ambassador said gas was a product, but not politics. â€œUkraine can not buy this product at the price offered by Russia and its price can be from 196 to 216 dollarsâ€.

Klimchuk emphasized that Ukrainian-Azerbaijani relations were developing in all fields and he hoped that the intergovernmental commission would hold its meeting in near future. The diplomat reminded that mutual trade turnover reached one billion dollars and according to the statistics for January 1, 2009, more than 100 thousand tons of grain and flour were brought to Azerbaijan.