RUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTS MEET IN MOSCOW. Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma, meeting at the Kremlin on 27 February, signed an agreement on economic cooperation through the year 2007, RFE/RL correspondents in Moscow reported. That accord is aimed at doubling trade turnover between the two countries, which totaled $14 billion in 1997. The two leaders also agreed to cooperate in the construction of military transport planes, to ensure quick ratification of agreements on the Black Sea Fleet, and to further develop equal partnership and cooperation among CIS members. A Russian-Ukrainian commission on military-technical cooperation is to be formed, and the two countries will seek to promote Russian and Ukrainian weapons on world markets. Kuchma received support from Yeltsin to meet in Odessa with the president of Moldova and an unspecified representative of the Transdniester to discuss the breakaway region. Kuchma also stressed that Ukraine will not join NATO. BP

BLACK SEA STATES TO DISCUSS CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES. Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine have drafted guidelines for talks on confidence-building measures related to the activities of their naval forces in the Black Sea, the "Turkish Daily News" reported on 27 February, citing a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement. The measures are intended to strengthen economic, political, and military cooperation between the states bordering the Black Sea. LF

UKRAINE SIGNS COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH SOUTHERN NEIGHBORS... Officials from Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania signed a cooperation treaty in Izmail, Ukraine, on 26 February, Mediafax reported. The signatories to the agreement pledged to protect ethnic minorities and to put aside territorial disputes. The document, which was sponsored by the European Council, also draws up free-trade zones and sets common policies on border traffic. PB

...FAILS TO AGREE WITH LATVIA OVER TARIFFS REDUCTION. Ukrainian Prime Minister Valery Pustovoytenko and his Latvian counterpart, Guntars Krasts, signed five cooperation agreements in Kyiv on 26 February but failed to agree on the abolition of tariffs on some goods, BNS reported. A free-trade agreement on many foodstuffs was signed. But Krasts was opposed to a reduction of the 75 percent tariff on Ukrainian grain imports, while Pustovoytenko insisted on maintaining a 20 percent duty on Latvian canned fish products. Other agreements provided for cooperation in the transportation and communications sectors. PB