Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko has held talks with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini as part of a meeting of foreign ministers of the Central European Initiative (CEI) in Trieste, Italy, on June 10, the information policy department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday.
At the beginning of the meeting, Hryschenko thanked the Italian government for its decision to allocate EUR 26 million for the implementation of Chornobyl projects, which was announced by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
During the meeting, the sides paid much attention to the prospects for expanding cooperation between Ukraine and Italy in the trade and economic sector, in particular, holding a meeting of the Ukrainian-Italian council on trade, industrial and financial cooperation in the last quarter of this year. They also agreed to organize a bilateral business forum during the Italian foreign minister’s upcoming visit to Ukraine.
Hryschenko and Frattini discussed the ways of enhancing cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector, particularly, strengthening energy security in Europe and exchanging experience in the development of energy saving technologies.
Frattini said that his country would do everything to facilitate the successful completion of talks between Ukraine and the EU on the association agreement, including the creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area.
