Abuja — The Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has said that the Federal Government has put in place the mechanism to deregulate the power, petroleum and gas sectors of the economy to encourage foreign investors to participate in the development of the economy.

Speaking yesterday in the State House, Abuja when he received the President of Baltic Holdings Corporation from Ukraine, Dr. Jonathan affirmed government's determination to develop the power sector by moving away from hydro to gas technology which he said is more reliable and in abundance in the country.

He stated that the country is developing petroleum and gas master-plan which encourages public private partnership aimed at positioning Nigeria as one of the biggest economies by the year 2020.

Dr. Jonathan also said that government is concerned with the issue of providing potable water to the citizenry and combating ecological problems which according to him, has threatened agricultural development in parts of the country.

He stated that the Federal Government is making effort to purify polluted or dirty surface water as well as underground water for domestic and agricultural purposes..

The vice president expressed government's determination to encourage investors in the areas of waste management, fertilizer production and to extinguish gas flares, noting that in other parts of the world, what is considered as waste materials are used for power generation.

He assured the Ukrainian company of Federal Government's assistance to enable the company invest in the country with its advanced technology and articulated government's determination to partner with Ukraine towards the development of the Nigerian economy.

Earlier, the President of Baltic Holdings Corporation, Mr. Yury Likhodid, said Ukraine and the Russian Federation were eager to invest and contribute to the industrial and economic development of Nigeria. He outlined the company's area of interest to include oil and gas, bitumen exploration and processing.

Others are manufacturing of fertilizers, ecologically safe air conditioning system, the technology to retrieve water from the air and installation of water treatment facilities.

Likhodid stated that the company has proposed to develop joint activities with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under Nigas Petrochemicals Holdings, to assist the NNPC and other Nigerian-owned oil companies acquire skills and technological know-how that would allow the corporation become independent in oil and gas development in the country.