January 28, 2003 - 11:55 - Kiev

President Vladimir Putin and President Leonid Kuchma held negotiations in the Ukrainian capital.

Mr Putin and Mr Kuchma held a one-to-one meeting, followed by a discussion involving other members of the two delegations.

The questions discussed included current aspects of Russian-Ukrainian trade, economic, investment and energy cooperation, border delimitation, and cooperation prospects within the CIS and EurAsEC. President Putin said he was satisfied with the fast pace of the joint project to set up an international gas consortium to operate and develop Ukraine’s gas transportation system. The two leaders also spoke of how to deal with modern challenges and threats – terrorism, transnational crime, and the drugs trade.

The Presidents signed a treaty on the Russian-Ukrainian border, which stretches for 2,063 kilometres overland, summing up four years of intensive effort to delimit the frontier between the two countries.

As the heads of state looked on, the following agreements were signed: on the establishment and running of university and college affiliates in Russia and Ukraine; on cooperation in youth policy; on cooperation in the health services; on cooperation in the prevention of HIV infection; and on the mutual recognition of the findings of sanitary-epidemiological research. Mr Putin and Mr Kuchma were also present when agreements were signed on cooperation between the ITAR-TASS and UKRINFORM news agencies and between the radio company Voice of Russia and the national radio company of Ukraine.

At the end of the summit, President Putin and President Kuchma made statements to the press and answered journalists’ questions.