KIEV, July 6 – President Viktor Yushchenko has welcomed the practical steps taken by the European Union to implement the Nabucco international gas pipeline project, the Ukrainian president's representative for international energy security matters, Bohdan Sokolovsky, said.

"The head of state believes that after the signing, on July 13, 2009, in Ankara, of the interstate agreement between Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Hungary, the project will be launched," the presidential press service quoted Sokolovsky as saying on Monday.