Šefčovič hails first round of Ukraine-Russia-EU gas talks as ‘successful’

European Commission Vice-President for the Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič said this upon the first round of Ukraine-EU-Russia talks on terms of Russian gas transit, an Ukrinform correspondent reported from Berlin.

"We agreed on the need to concentrate our efforts on [drawing up] a new gas transportation contract after 2019," the European Commission Vice-President said.

As Šefčovič noted, the parties should also estimate the Europe's needs for Russian gas for the next decade as well as the way how the European energy legislation, which is to be implemented in the national Ukrainian legislation, could affect the future agreements, including the formation of a tariff for the gas transit from Russia to the EU through the territory of Ukraine.

The European Commission Vice-President said that the sides would continue consultations at a high expert level in mid-September to prepare a meeting at the political level in October.

He also noted that the first round of negotiations was successful and its main result was the start of a new tripartite negotiation process between Ukraine, the EU and the Russian Federation on the transportation of Russian gas.

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