Opening bilateral talks with the Ukrainian President, Vladimir Putin underlined that this was their fifth meeting of the year and a good opportunity to discuss current problems.
During the meeting, Mr Putin and Mr Kuchma agreed to soon lift mutual trade restrictions on some commodity items. The Russian President mentioned Ukrainian pipes supplied to the Russian market and some Russian goods exported to Ukraine.
The presidents agreed to work out a plan of bilateral consultations on problems related to trade and economic relations.
Vladimir Putin named the energy sphere and Russia and Ukraine’s integration into the European energy system among priorities of Russian-Ukrainian cooperation.
The main result of the talks was an agreement to sign a document on the establishment of a Russian-Ukrainian-German gas transportation consortium.
The presidents also discussed Ukraine’s participation in the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec).