The roundtable was attended by members of the U.S. Congress, heads of the diplomatic missions of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Greece, Albania and other countries, officials of the U.S. Department of State, leading American think tanks focusing on energy security issues, etc. The attendees discussed a current status as well as prospects for implementation of initiatives within the Southern Energy Corridor, that is a number of projects on pipeline construction to transport natural gas from the Caspian Sea region, Central Asia and Middle East via Turkey to Europe.

In this regard, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. O.Motsyk informed the audience that Ukraine is prepared to participate in the implementation of the Southern Energy Corridor projects by means of supplying relevant equipment and materials, carrying-out design work and assembly operations. In addition to that, O.Motsyk emphasized an opportunity to use capacities of Ukraine’s underground gas reservoirs along with transit potential of Ukrainian gas transportation system.

The Ambassador stressed that Ukraine complies with its transit obligations to the full extent and will further guarantee constant transit of natural gas to Europe.

As for the “South Stream” energy initiative, O.Motsyk said that the implementation of this Russian project, regarded by experts as rather costly one to realize, will trigger increase in price of natural gas for European consumers. At the same time, modernization of Ukraine’s gas transportation system in line with the highest European standards proves to be feasible and economically viable alternative to a construction of the “South Stream”.