Belarus, Russia may resume gas talks in late March

Belarus and Russia are likely to resume talks on the costs of Russian natural gas at the end of March, the state news agency BELTA reports quoting Deputy Price Minister Uladzimir Syamashka.

"As far as the gas costs for 2020-2024 are concerned, we and Russia are in the process of negotiations. We were expected to have agreed on the pricing approaches by the end of 2017. I reckon we will resume the talks in late March", Syamashka said.

Deputy PM Syamashka reminded that in April 2017 Belarus and Russia agreed on the cost of Russian natural gas for the period through the end of 2019. There was a plan that from 2020 on, a unified oil and gas market would be created but negotiations are still in progress, according to him. "Obviously, our stance is that the cost of gas at the Belarus-Russian border should be if not equal but at least close to the cost of gas in Russia's Smolensk region," DPM said.

Syamashka stressed that Belarus had two key goals in mind when it entered the Eurasian Economic Community — a unified market and similar costs for energy resources. He added that according to the statistics from the end of 2017, Russia was the destination for 52% of Belarusian exports. 10-15 years ago, Russia accounted for 75-80% of exports from Belarus.

Deputy Prime Minister said the talks with Russian counterparts never stop. The last time he met with Russian Vice Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovitch was on 7 February.