UKRAINE, MOLDOVA AGREE ON TRANSIT POLICIES. Meeting in Odesa on 9 June, Ukrainian Premier Viktor Yushchenko and his Moldovan counterpart, Dumitru Bragis, agreed to facilitate transit shipments through their countries and to pool efforts in combating cross-border smuggling, Interfax reported. Yushchenko commented that the two sides agreed to modernize customs checkpoints at the Ukrainian-Moldovan border in order to make those facilities "more attractive for businessmen as well as for ordinary people." Belarusian Premier Uladzimir Yarmoshyn was also scheduled to participate in the Odesa meeting but failed to do so. A Belarusian government spokesman told RFE/RL that Yarmoshyn did not show up in Odesa because Belarus and Ukraine have not yet agreed on regulations regarding the transport corridor through Belarus. The same day, Belarusian Television quoted Yarmoshyn as saying that "the khokhly [disparaging term for Ukrainians] are going to fleece us at the border." JM

UKRAINE MAY OBTAIN $1.2 BILLION FROM WORLD BANK, DEPENDING ON REFORM. Johannes Linn, World Bank deputy chairman for Europe and Central Asia, said in Kyiv on 9 June that Ukraine may receive a $1-$1.2 billion loan package from the bank in 2000- 2002, Interfax reported. "The level of support in terms of financial assistance will depend very much on the government's ability to implement its reform program," Linn noted. Final approval will also depend on the results of an audit of the bank's previous loans to Ukraine and the government's success in passing laws the bank considers beneficial for economic development. Linn praised Ukraine's government, saying the bank has "a new sense of optimism" about the country's economic future. JM