On July 25, 2008, the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine ad interim Mr. Yuriy Kostenko met with the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mr. David Merkel.

The parties discussed urgent issues of the Ukrainian – American relations. They highly assessed the bilateral political dialogue development and expressed confidence in successful holding of the IV session of the Interdepartmental Coordination Group early in September.

The interlocutors discussed regional problems and first of all emphasized the interest in further GUAM development and agreed to take efforts in order to resume negotiations on the Transdniestrian conflict settlement in 5+2 format in the near future.

From the American part, the Ambassador of the USA to Ukraine Mr. William Taylor took part in the meeting.