KIEV, Sept. 1 - Ukraine and Azerbaijan agreed during a meeting of the Ukrainian-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation on Friday to step up cooperation in energy sector.

The commission held the session in Baku to discuss not only supplies of Caspian Sea crude to Ukraine and further to Europe via Odessa-Brody oil pipeline, but also joint exploration, production and processing of hydrocarbons in the territory of the two countries, the national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrayiny said in a statement.

???Ukraine and Azerbaijan have a long partnership in the fuel and energy complex. The work of the intergovernmental commission shows that our colleagues from the State Oil Company [of Azerbaijan] are ready to carry out joint projects with us,??? Naftogaz chairman Volodymyr Sheludchenko said in the statement. ???Azerbaijan is among our strategic partners in oil sector.???

The intergovernmental commission also considered the terms and projected volumes of Azerbaijani crude and petroleum product exports to Ukraine for the near future, Naftogaz said.

Ukraine??™s Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kliuyev and Azerbaijan??™s First Deputy Prime Minister Yagub Eyyubov chaired teams of the two countries on the talks.

Naftogaz and State Oil Company of Azerbaijan have initialed an agreement on cooperation between the two companies following the session of the commission. The agreement is expected to be officially signed during President Viktor Yushchenko's visit to the Central Asian country next week.

Yushchenko is scheduled to visit Azerbaijan on Sept. 7 for two days of talks with his counterpart, Ilkham Aliyev, according to Yushchenko??™s press service.

???The topics that are to be discussed include issues of energy cooperation, in particular creation of a new oil transport route: Baku-Supsa-Odessa-Brody-Plock,??? presidential press secretary Iryna Herashchenko said at a briefing in Kiev on Friday.

???Yushchenko believes that the two countries have untapped potential for cooperation, including in the energy sector,??? Herashchenko said.

Odessa-Brody, which was originally designed to move Caspian Sea oil to Europe, is currently shipping Russian oil in the opposite direction, from Brody to Odessa for further export by oil tanker via the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko believes that Odessa-Brody oil pipeline may be used for transporting Caspian oil to Europe not earlier than in two or three years.

???Taking into account the dynamics of oil extraction increase in Kazakhstan, about 10 million tons annually, we expect additional resources for filling the Odessa-Brody facility within two-three years,??? he said during a press conference in Kuznetsovsk on Friday.

The minister reported that in two-three years the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline may be extended to the Polish border and an additional section from the border to Plock and further to Gdansk may be constructed.

???That is the option we put as a base for our business relations with Poland in implementation of this project,??? he said.

Ukraine and Azerbaijan, the two former republics of the Soviet Union, are both members of the GUAM group, along with Georgia and Moldova. The group, widely seen as a counterweight to Russian influence, aims to create a free-trade scheme between its members and ensure cooperation in energy and other areas. (ob/ez)