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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Energy agreement with Russia to be realised in Serbia’s interest

Belgrade, 4 December 2008

Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic said today that Serbia must make all efforts to fully implement the energy agreement with Russia while safeguarding Serbia’s interests.

In an interview with the Beta news agency Dacic said that the government is unified in its stance that steps should be made towards implementing the energy agreement but Serbia must make sure that its national interests will be protected against any unforeseen event, such as the the gas pipeline through Serbia not being constructed..

He said that the sale of Serbian oil company NIS is not an issue which the Serbian-Russian committee for economic cooperation is dealing with, adding that the committee’s session last week in Moscow was dedicated to the fundamental question of whether the Russian and Serbian sides stand behind the agreement in its entirety.

He said that the issues discussed then were if the sale of NIS will be accompanied by the construction of a gas pipeline through Serbia and whether the gas storage facility in Banatski Dvor will be expanded.

There are different timetables for the implementation of these three elements and it cannot be expected that all agreements will be signed at the same time, he said.

The Minister stressed that the visit of a Russian economic delegation, comprising Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman Alexei Miller and Russian President’s Envoy Georgi Poltavchenko, aims at showing that Russia is ready to endorse the agreement in its entirety.

Ratified and political agreements are mandatory for Gazprom, as it is a state-owned company, explained Dacic.

Dacic stressed that it is necessary that Gazprom and Srbijagas sign an agreement regarding gas supply for 2009 and determine whether this will be realised with or without an intermediary.

As for the liberalisation of Serbian furniture export to Russia, Dacic announced that in the first three months of 2009 Russian partners will not have to pay taxes on certain products.

At a meeting, held last week in Moscow, the two sides agreed to discuss the abolition of taxes for vehicles and furniture, but the full liberalisation of vehicle exports has not been realised.

It was proposed that car import/export liberalisation is reciprocal and in line with annual quotas, these quotas will be determined in the upcoming negotiations, concluded the Minister.