2023 seen as pivotal year for Belarus-Russia projects to create common energy markets

Viktor Karankevich said: “The year 2023 will be a pivotal year for implementing large-scale projects for creating common energy markets. We will have to find solutions to a number of issues and finish the main work on a package of intergovernmental agreements in gas industry. We count on your support. The parliamentary dimension plays an important role in advancing Union State programs both with regard to the development of proposals on implementing adopted Union State decisions into national and agency-specific programs and with regard to further improvement of the legal base, the enabling of comfortable economic and legal conditions for the development of bilateral cooperation in energy industry and gas industry.”

The official remarked that over the years of Union State relations Belarus and Russia have advanced far in the formation of the common energy space. The necessary legal base has been created for active development and deepening of integration processes in power engineering. The operation of the national power grids has been synchronized. Important joint projects have been implemented. The construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was the largest one of them.

Fundamental documents have been worked out at the interagency level and are now going through intrastate reconciliation procedures: an interstate agreement on setting up the common market of electricity as well as rules to guide the market's operation. Unified principles of operation and regulation of the common market of natural gas are being worked out.

“It is important for us to get these documents not only to secure the future development of the common markets of energy resources, the procedure of our joint work, but also to bring conditions for commercial entities of the two countries closer to each other. It is a fundamental stance of the Belarusian side,” the energy minister underlined.