KIEV, Jan. 5 – Ukraine should attract a European company to manage its gas transport system (GTS) to retain its status of a transit country, Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Andriy Kobolev said.

"The ultimate goal of the process [the creation of a separate operator] is the attraction of a European company… They would have their interest. Actually we want to share a part of own business and they would help us to guarantee that transit across the Ukrainian territory would remain after 2019," he said on Channel 5 TV late on Wednesday.

Kobolev said that at present only three companies showed their interest to manage the Ukrainian GTS. They are holding negotiations.