Speaking at a news conference in Melbourne after his talks with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, he said they had discussed bilateral energy cooperation, including possible purchase of uranium in Australia and supplies of Australian coal for Ukraine’s energy system.
Poroshenko also said another issue at talks was Australia’s possible participation in a donor conference on Ukraine due to be held in Brussels next year. Apart from that, in his words, the sides discussed coordination of efforts within international organizations, including the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Group of Twenty. He also said he has invited the Australian prime minister to pay a visit to Kiev in early 2015.
Abbott, in turn, said that being an energy superpower, his country was interested in establishing energy cooperation with Ukraine.
The Ukrainian ministry of energy and coal industry said it was looking at buying coal from Vietnam and Australia. The United States-produced coal was not even considered due to its high price. In August 2014, the Ukrainian government concluded a contract to buy one million tonnes of coal from South Africa at a price of 86 U.S. dollars per tonne. The end price after transportation to Ukraine rose to 110-112 U.S. dollars. However South African coal proved to be of inferior quality and could not be used by Ukrainian power plant. In November Steel Mont Trading Ltd. cancelled its contract on coal supplies to Ukraine.
Poroshenko arrived in Australia on December 10. The press service of the Ukrainian head of state said that Poroshenko was scheduled to visit Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. The programme of his visit includes talks with Australian Governor General Peter Cosgrove and with members of the Australian working group for investigating into the crash of Malaysia’s MH-17.
Apart from that, the Ukrainian president is expected to meet with leader of the Labour Party Bill Shorten and representatives of Australia’s business circles.
More about:
