Ukraine PM Tymoshenko To Visit Brussels For First EU Mtgs

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's new Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will visit Brussels at the end of the month for her first meetings with European Union leaders, the Ukrainian government said Thursday.

Yulia Tymoshenko will visit Brussels at month's end
Tymoshenko will meet Jan. 28-29 European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana and External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, her government said.

Meetings with E.U. Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs are also planned, the government press office said.

Tymoshenko, who was appointed prime minister one month ago, will make her first foreign visit on Sunday to Georgia for the investiture of pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili, who was reelected at the start of January.

Sandwiched between Poland and Russia, Ukraine is a key transit route for Russian natural gas to the E.U. and has had strained relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin since Tymoshenko and pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko led the 2004 "Orange Revolution".

In an interview published the day after she was confirmed as prime minister, Tymoshenko pledged "stable and harmonious" ties with Moscow despite naming a government that favors North Atlantic Treaty Organization and E.U. membership.

Source: AFP