KIEV, March 1 – International financial institutions are to issue funds to Ukraine in 2011 to upgrade the Ukrainian gas transport system, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boyko said on Tuesday during the Ukrainian energy forum organized by the Adam Smith Institute.

"We are to receive the first money by the end of the year, and start upgrading," he said.

The minister said that a top-priority project would be the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline.