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Lukashenka says that relations with Gazprom are trouble-free for first time in many years

 

Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on Friday that he had no grievances against Russian natural gas giant Gazprom "for the first time in many years."

While receiving Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller in Minsk, Mr. Lukashenka said that trouble-free relations between Belarus and the Russian government-controlled monopolist were a surprise to him.

"We have paid for everything that we have bought from you. You have paid in full for everything that you have pumped through our country," the presidential press office quoted Mr. Lukashenka as saying.
According to the Belarusian leader, Gazprom has lived up to its promises to fund a number of charity projects in Belarus. "We are very much interested in new projects and programs proposed for today's discussion," he said.

Mr. Miller reportedly expressed a high opinion of the level of cooperation between the country and the company and spoke about plans for its further development. He announced that Gazprom would boost gas deliveries to Belarus and also increase the volume of gas pipelined through the country to customers westward this year.

Mr. Miller confirmed that Gazprom was interested to build a second leg of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, and also said that the Russian company was increasing spending on the modernization of its facilities in Belarus.

According to the executive, Gazprom will increase the volume of gas pumped into subsurface gas storage facilities in Belarus ahead of the winter season.

Mr. Miller said that Gazprom was beginning to fund a program to supply Belarusian hospitals with state-of-the-art equipment to diagnose hearing problems in children. "In the future we plan to continue this work and will fund a program to diagnose vision problems," he said.

Gazprom has also donated funds for the renovation of the Brest Fortress memorial and to the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus, said the press office. // BelaPAN