MINSK, 21 May (BelTA) – Leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union member states have discussed the formation of a common market of natural gas, BelTA learned from Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko after a videoconference session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, in which Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko participated.
According to Igor Petrishenko, the EAEU leaders discussed the natural gas market during the private part of the session. “You know that a concept has been prepared and passed as well as the relevant program on setting up the gas market. The matter was mentioned by the Belarusian side, the president of our country back in 2018. Key aspects are equal access to the gas market for all the entities that exist in the Eurasian Economic Union. Matters concerning tariffs on gas transportation were not finalized back then. Now the heads of state have agreed that all these aspects will be reflected in an international agreement that is in development,” the official said.
The Russian side presented a draft of this agreement in April. “Since there is no sufficient time to work on it at the expert level and the level of the governments, our president suggested and all the heads of state backed him up that experts will look into key solutions of the document. Certainly, with active involvement of the Eurasian Economic Commission. And during the next session, which is scheduled for H2 2021, the experts will present the relevant approaches and proposals for the sake of thorough discussion at the level of the heads of state. It was one of the most important topics that were discussed privately,” the deputy prime minister stated.
Igor Petrishenko drew attention to the fact that during the session leaders of other countries, in particular, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, had spoken in support of Belarus' stance in favor of unified approaches to tariffs.
The official stated that for now the document Russia has suggested provides for different tariffs for domestic companies in Russia and for companies in other countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. “It suggests different tariffs for now. Our ministries, experts, and the governments will have to take a close look at it. Then it will be necessary to present the reconciled document for discussion at the level of the heads of state. It will be done during a regular session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in autumn,” Igor Petrishenko said.
He pointed out that signing the agreement is one thing (the agreement is supposed to be signed in 2022), but it is also important to implement the provisions of the agreement and get ready to work in these conditions. “The common market has to start working. We have to implement provisions of the program as from 2025. Since these deadlines are specified by the strategy on future development of our union in the period till 2025 and by other program documents, which had been passed before that. These time frames are specified there. This is why we have to come to terms as soon as possible in order to be able to adapt the national systems to conditions for implementing the documents, which will regulate the gas market and other fields,” the deputy prime minister explained.
