Yuriy Yekhanurov met Thursday with Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the resource-rich Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan, in Dniprodzerzhinsk, eastern Ukraine.
At the meeting, Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan was interested in using Ukraine's Odessa-Brody pipeline to supply its oil to global markets, and that he planned to raise the issue at talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko Friday.
"Tomorrow we will hold talks on Kazakh transportation via the Odessa-Brody pipeline and participation in a project to build a 52 kilometer (32-mile) link to Yuzhny [terminal near Odessa], and then on to the Baltics via Poland," Nazarbayev said.
Ukraine is a major transit country for oil exported to European markets, mainly by Russia. The country wants to improve its position as a transit nation and reduce energy dependence on Russia. Kazakhstan plans to substantially increase its oil production, and is looking for new pipeline capacity.
