The day-long consultations involving about eight cabinet ministers and state secretaries from each side will mark a rare visit to the West for Kuchma, whose reputation has been tainted by a number of political scandals.

His last state visit to the EU took place in Italy in November 2002.

Relations between the country of 48 million people and the EU are expected to dominate the talks between Schroeder and Kuchma, who has said Ukraine aims to launch EU accession talks in 2011.

"We want to join the EU as soon as possible," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, in an interview with Tuesday's issue of German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

"Turkey has been trying to join since 1963 but we will get there more quickly, even if it will not be easy," he said, adding "it would be illogical to not accept Ukraine".

Brussels has held out on offering any promises, saying massive political and economic reforms must first be carried out in what is considered one of the world's most corrupt nations.

In October in Kiev, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said that EU enlargement would offer Ukraine "an opportunity" to advance its own democratic reforms.

The expansion of the EU will see 10 mainly ex-communist countries join the 15-nation EU on May 1, bringing the bloc right to Ukraine's borders.

Kuchma's visit to Berlin comes at a time when the EU and the United States have sharply criticized Kiev for its plans to reform its constitution ahead of a presidential election in October in ways that could help Kuchma cling to power.

Last month, Ukraine's parliament passed on first reading a bill that would amend the constitution to allow the president to be elected by deputies and not directly by universal suffrage.

The nation's Constitutional Court then cleared the way for Kuchma to run for a third term in next October's poll.

Observers say the moves are designed to prevent opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko from winning the presidency in a popular vote, or at least restricting him to an ineffective two-year term with reduced presidential powers should he run and win in October.

According to German government sources, Berlin would welcome a rapprochement between Ukraine and the EU, as well as NATO -- an aim Kuchma has espoused.

Kuchma has has deployed some 1,600 Ukrainian troops as part of the 9,000-strong multinational division under Polish command in Iraq, a contribution singled out for praise by the United States.

Beyond Kuchma and Gryshchenko and other top officials, economy and European integration minister Mykola Derkach is also expected in Berlin.

A Ukrainian government spokesman said Kuchma and Schroeder were expected to discuss the creation of a gas consortium with Russia and plans for German investment.

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