Ukraine Steps Up to the Plate

The Libyan prime minister and his Ukrainian counterpart have discuessed the prospects for Libya to take part in manufacturing the An-70 aircraft, which is Ukraine's long-suffering joint project with Russia.

In addition, the Libyans have confirmed an agreement on Ukraine's access to the oil market of their country, which was reached during Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's visit to Libya last year. The Libyan prime minister promised to give priority to the Ukrainian national oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrayiny in developing oil deposits.

Ukraine was also invited to take part in the privatization of a Libyan metallurgical company.

Yanukovych said that Ukraine was interested in cooperation with Libya, in particular, in aircraft-building, the military-technical sphere, metallurgy, oil and gas extraction, the implementation of joint space projects and tourism.