Russia to set gas price irrespective of EU stand
MOSCOW - Russia plans to set its domestic gas prices irrespective of the European Union’s stance, Russian Anti-Monopoly Minister Ilya Yuzhanov told ITAR-TASS Tuesday.
“We will always have lower prices for energy than other countries,” Yuzhanov said.
The ministry’s council decided at its meeting Tuesday to ask the government to send a memorandum on the issue of “double price formation” on energy resources to the EU, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Yuzhanov said.
A draft of the memorandum prepared by the ministry will be submitted to the government by the end of April, he added.
Lower domestic prices for energy resources such as gas and power are one of the key disagreements between Russia and the WTO in talks on Russia’s WTO accession.
Russian Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Maxim Medvedkov, who is the chief negotiator for Russia’s WTO accession, has repeated several times that the demand by WTO's European members to bring into line domestic and export prices for energy resources is completely unacceptable for Russia.
Medvedkov said last week that Russia’s chances of joining the WTO this year are slim. /Prime-Tass/
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