Reuters is reporting that Russia and Poland have agreed a new gas supply deal conforming to EU rules.
The deal should ease worries that Europe, which takes gas through the Polish pipeline, will face shortages during the coming winter.
Russia and Poland agreed on to increase gas delivery to Poland and its transit to Germany through the Yamal pipeline last year but was not signed due to worries that it was incompatible with European Union laws.
Azerbaijan-Central Asia Financial Markets Infrastructure Advisory Services Project (ACAFI) official Teymur Geybatov announced that Azerbaijan’s Central Bank has accepted the ACAFI’s business-plan to open the country’s first credit bureau, calling it “the cornerstones of a sound financial system.”
“According to our business plan, capital accumulation should be completed within 9 months” – said Geybatov, who added that US$1 million is needed to provide the bureau with the required software.
Venezuela and China may become new strategic partners of Belarus. Lukashenko’s delegation visited Caracas while the vice-chairman of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, Xi Jinping paid an official visit to Minsk.
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has asked the government to look for new commodity markets. “There are other fish in the sea besides Russia and Europe — it is necessary to reach out to the new regions”, he told Interfax. According to Lukashenko, Belarus is being pushed to embrace new partners because of unfair trade conditions with Russia and evasion of arrangements.
Russian energy giant Gazprom has confirmed intentions on acquiring control over Belarusian gas pipeline operator, Beltransgaz.
Andrei Kruglov, Gazprom’s deputy CEO, discussed his company’s interest in boosting its stake in the company. This comes a few years after the company purchased 50 percent of Beltrangaz’s shares in 2007 indicating Gazproms’s intention to increase their control over the Belarusian pipeline.
The country of Georgia was set in about in a frenzy on Saturday after a television news program announced that the Russian army had invaded and killed President Mikhail Saakashvili.
The private television station Imedi showed the report at 8 p.m. Saturday evening, complete with voiceover commentary on ‘live’ video showing Russian tanks and fighter jets operating inside the country.
Georgians rushed to gas stations and ATMs, and the country’s wireless network crashed under the weight of fearful calls.
After a lengthy, interesting, and highly competitive presidential election in Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich was finally sworn into office in the country’s capital of Kiev yesterday.
By Edith Balazs
Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said countries in central and eastern Europe should join together and create a “triangle” of supply points for natural gas to reduce dependence on fuel from Russia.
“I’m proposing that countries in the region set up a gas supply triangle to boost the diversity and security,” Bajnai said at an energy summit in Budapest today, which was attended by heads of government from countries in the region. “We need to increase the number of independent suppliers.”
KIEV, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Monday renewed her attacks on President-elect Viktor Yanukovich, whom she accuses of winning election through fraud, and rejected any post-election deal with him.
In a televised statement she accused her rival of already beginning to sell off Ukraine’s gas pipeline network — a sensitive issue since it touches on relations with Russia — and predicted he would not stay in power for long.
The sharp attack by the fiery 49-year-old premier, who on Saturday dropped her legal challenge to Yanukovich’s election, significantly raised political tensions before his inauguration on Thursday.
“Yanukovich, who came to power by lies, is not our president and he will not last long,” she told a televised broadcast. “I want to say that I would not, under any circumstances, create a coalition together with Yanukovich,” she declared.
Opposition leader Viktor F. Yanukovich has declared victory over current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Ukraine’s 2010 presidential election, which has garnered immense international attention over the last few months.
It is not yet official, and Tymoshenko will not concede, but exit polls currently put Yanukovich three to four points ahead.
Following Poland and the Czech Republic, top military officials in Romania announced that they have approved U.S. plans to base surface-to-air missile interceptors within their country.
Romanian President Traian Basescu hastily issued a statement yesterday saying he was prepared to negotiate the details of the missile defense system which, he added, could be up and running by 2015.