OREANDA-NEWS. January 20, 2012. "Let me on behalf of many thousands of labor collectives of pipes’ enterprises express you deep gratitude for your personal efforts and activities of the government headed by you, which come true to sign on December 30, 2011 of the Protocol on Amendments to the Agreement on the regulation of supply of certain kinds of steel pipes made in Ukraine, to the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation" – it comes in a letter to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, signed by leaders of three major tube factories in Ukraine.

The letter notes that the Protocol the extends an Agreement for 2012 and set quotas for deliveries of Ukrainian pipes to the member countries of the Customs Union: to Belarus - 72 tons per year, to Kazakhstan - 42 tons per year, to Russia - 150 thousand tons for the first half of this year followed by determination of the size of quotas by the end of the year.

"Your personal support and the persistence and consistency of Ukrainian negotiators in defending the interests of national producers allowed to solve the extremely sensitive issue for Ukrainian producers of pipes - the continued presence of its products to major traditional markets of consumption of Ukrainian pipes in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, whose share is over 40% in industrial applications of Ukrainian member pipes’ enterprises of the Agreement"- was written to the Prime Minister.

However, they noted that "it is difficult to overestimate the value of a signed document that will allow domestic pipe producers, continue large-scale modernization program initiated the before a crisis in the global economy, to preserve the highly labor groups, to ensure the competitiveness of Ukrainian enterprises".