Energy minister comments on joint gas and electricity markets of Union State of Belarus, Russia

MINSK, 13 March (BelTA) – Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich talked about the formation of the unified gas and electricity markets of the Union State as he gave an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel on 12 March, BelTA has learned.

The interview touched on the cooperation between Belarus and Russia in the energy sector, in building the unified energy markets.

"The Union State program on nuclear energy has been fully implemented. We signed an intergovernmental agreement on the transportation of radioactive materials and management of spent nuclear fuel of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. We also signed the document to formalize the agreements reached in December on prices for natural gas for 2023-2025. Prices will be in Russian rubles, at the level of 2022," the minister said.

"Now the task is to implement the third set of measures. This is about the development of principles for the unified gas market of the Union State. This will represent the legal framework and will give a further impetus to the work on the unified electricity market of the Union State," Viktor Karankevich explained.

Among the main tasks, according to him, is the rapprochement of the conditions for operation of economic entities of the two countries. "We intend to discuss these principles and submit the document to the heads of government and then to the heads of state," the minister said. “We are planning to complete this work by the end of the year.”