Vilnius - Lithuania's President Valdas Adamkus played host to his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko in Vilnius Tuesday, where the two leaders discussed bilateral economic and political relations, regional issues and Euro-Atlantic cooperation.

Yushchenko said Ukrainian companies wanted to participate in the planned construction of a new nuclear power plant at Ignalina in Lithuania.

At present the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Poland are involved in the project, which has yet to commence construction, but Yushchenko said two Ukrainian companies had already applied to Lithuania to take part.

During the meeting, Adamkus expressed Lithuania's strong support for Ukraine's goal to conclude an association agreement with the EU, his press service reported.

According to the Lithuanian president, the two countries need to accelerate Ukraine's dialogue with the EU.

"It is very important today that Ukraine continues the ongoing reforms and focuses on the preparation of national annual programmes," Adamkus said.

Adamkus and Yushchenko also agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in energy, particularly in the development of the Odessa- Brody-Plock-Gdansk pipeline project and the establishment of a Caspian-Black Sea-Baltic energy transit space, and to promote the projects to EU member states. (dpa)