BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

13/11/2006

Belarusian Expert Sees No Gas Supplier Other Than Russia Over Next Decade

Aleh Hamolya, acting head of the external relations department of Beltranshaz, Belarus's gas pipelines operator, said at a Belarusian-German conference in Minsk on November 10 that Russia will remain the only supplier of gas to Belarus for the next decade, Belapan reported. "Beltranshaz certainly studied the possibility of diversifying the gas-supply sources. Unfortunately, we do not see possible alternative sources for the short-term and medium-term future," Hamolya added. Hamolya refused to predict the price Belarus will have to pay for Russian gas supplies in 2007. Meanwhile, a November 10 meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alyaksandr Lukashenka did not clarify the gas-price issue. The Russian president's press service commented after the meeting only that Belarusian-Russian economic relations will be based on "a mutually beneficial basis and market principles." JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2006/11/3-cee/cee-131106.asp