Volodymyr Rybak: Cooperation between the US Congress and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine could play an important role in further development of strategic partnership between our countries
21 October 2013, 16:45
Cooperation between the US Congress and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine could play an important role in further development of strategic partnership between our countries.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Rybak said this during the meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USA to Ukraine Geoffrey R. Pyatt on Monday.
Volodymyr Rybak was pleased to note intensive inter-parliamentary dialogue between the US Congress and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. He informed that the deputy group on inter-parliamentary relations with the United Sates of America involves 148 people’s deputies. “We know that the similar group exists in the US Congress,” he said.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada expressed conviction that actual position the USA occupies amidst Ukraine’s trade partners does not correspond to the real cooperation potential between our countries. “Last year the amount of bilateral trade has amounted to over USD 5 billions. We hope that this figure will increase in the next years,” he said.
Volodymyr Rybak appreciated bilateral cooperation in the space sector. In particular, the launch of the Antares Rocket, the first stage of which was elaborated and produced by the Ukrainian enterprises the State Enterprise “Pivdenmash” and the Construction Bureau “Pivdenne”.
Volodymyr Rybak deems cooperation in energy sphere to be one of the most important directions of Ukrainian-American cooperation. “We are satisfied with active position of leading American Energy Companies Chevron and ExxonMobil, with whom we plan to conclude a production sharing agreement in the nearest future within the framework of shale gas production projects in Ukraine, as well as oil and gas production in the Black Sea shelf plate,” noted Volodymyr Rybak.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada thanked American partners for their attention to the situation in Ukraine and expressed an idea that the so called “Tymoshenko’s case” should be removed from the agenda of Ukraine’s integration”. “This issue should be solved in exclusively legal dimension, according to the provisions of Ukraine’s applicable legislation,” he said.