Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine - all once under Soviet control - signed a deal Wednesday an alternative route for energy supplies to Europe, DPA reported. They signed the agreement in Vilnius to construct the Odessa- Brody-Plock-Gdansk pipeline, connecting countries of the Black Sea with the Baltic Sea region. Hailing it as "an historic event," Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus told journalists the agreement showed the unity of the entire region and paved way to self-determination and sovereignty. The agreement creates a new consortium - known as Sarmatia - which will be responsible for the pipeline construction. Sarmatia is an unofficial name of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, popularised in the 17th century. Poland and Lithuania spearheaded the effort to sign the deal. The extended pipeline will offer Eastern European countries an alternative energy partner, said Polish President Lech Kaczynski. Kaczynski said he expected the pipeline to open in 2011. The pact was announced as Kaczynski, Adamkus, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Ukrainian President Victor Yuschenko, and minister of energy and natural resources of Kazakhastan Sauat Mynbayev held a two-day meeting on geopolitical energy issues. Kazakhstan did not sign an agreement and was present at the summit as an observer. "What is emerging now is against all odds," Saakashvili said. Ukraine has already built the Odessa-Brody section of the pipeline in 2003 with the idea of allowing Caspian oil to travel to Ukraine by tanker to an oil terminal near Odessa. Then it would go on to Europe by pipeline via Brody and Poland. Energy experts say that these countries want to thwart their dependence on Russia for sources of energy as most of the newer EU members and the three Baltic states rely solely on Russia for gas. Russia uses energy as a political tool, which is unacceptable to the Baltics and most of new EU states, energy experts say. These countries, including also Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia, share a long and painful history with their former overlord.
