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Inter TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian, 31 Mar 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thursday, Mar 31, 2004
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KIEV - [Presenter] The presidents of Poland and Ukraine [Aleksander
Kwasniewski and Leonid Kuchma] today laid flowers at the [19th-century poet]
Taras Shevchenko monument [in Kiev]. Kwasniewski placed a basket of red and
white flowers at the foot of the monument and Leonid Kuchma - yellow and
blue flowers. These are the national colours of the two countries.
It should be recalled that the Polish leader, Aleksander Kwasniewski,
arrived in Kiev to take part in the ceremony to open the Year of Poland in
Ukraine, which is to be held under the slogan "Ukraine and Poland in Europe
together".
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Leonid Kuchma and Aleksander Kwasniewski, Maryinynsky Palace, March 31, 2004
(Click on image to enlarge it)
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[Kwasniewski, in Polish, overlaid with Russian translation] Ukraine and
Poland in Europe together. It is not just a slogan for the events that are
being conducted at the moment, it is a slogan for Polish-Ukrainian relations
for many years to come.
[Correspondent] The Polish head of state's visit to Ukraine has ended with
specific accords.
[Kuchma, in Ukrainian] During the talks, we spoke at length on such priority
areas in bilateral cooperation as equipping borders, developing the border
infrastructure, visa policy, migration, fighting organized crime and
terrorism as the main area of collaboration, and cooperation between all our
law-enforcement structures in this regard.
We have once again confirmed - we discussed this problem during our meeting
in Warsaw - the need to further simplify the movement of goods, paying
particular attention to the transparency of this procedure. What should
happen is that the [customs] declaration with which a cargo crosses the
border should be the main document for the Ukrainian side if the cargo
arrives from Poland and vice versa.
[Correspondent] Most importantly, the problem of the privatization of the
Huta Czestochowa steelworks has been solved. Aleksander Kwasniewski said
that the Polish side decided to suspend the privatization process at that
steelworks because Warsaw suspects that the Industrial Union of Donbass,
which lost the tender, was treated unfairly. The Polish president took the
issue under his personal supervision, promising to conduct the process in a
transparent and honest way.
So, in Ukrainian Prime Minister [Viktor Yanukovych's] words, there is hope
that justice will be restored. The Ukrainian head of state remarked: this
problem may have been paid a bit more attention than it actually merited. He
expressed hope that such misunderstandings will not overshadow future ties.
[Kuchma, in Ukrainian] Today Ukrainians - forgive me - are not as poor as
they were yesterday, and I as the president would only welcome the fact that
Ukrainian capital has been aggressive enough to seek a presence on foreign
markets, including European ones. And all we want to see there is absolutely
transparent and fair rules of the game.
[Correspondent] Aleksander Kwasniewski presented Leonid Kuchma with a book
penned by Kuchma himself, "Ukraine Is Not Russia", and published in Polish.
In addition, the leaders announced today that both countries would submit a
joint bid to host the 2012 European Cup. The presidents agreed to meet again
in less than a month's time. Leonid Kuchma accepted an invitation to take
part in a European economic form, which Warsaw is to host in late April.
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