Conversation between President Medvedev and Gazprom CEO
Incidentally, the current crisis has shown that the first countries to be affected are in the Balkans. Therefore the construction of South Stream, the acceleration of its construction is becoming more urgent. If our Western partners suggest that the design capacity of South Stream as well as that of North Stream be increased, and ask for the acceleration of the construction of these facilities, Gazprom will respond positively to such a proposal.
With regard to the diversification of our business, one of our priorities is also diversifying our markets. Europe today is one of our biggest markets, but the Russian government asked Gazprom to make our domestic market its priority, to do everything with that in mind. In particular, working within the deadlines that were agreed upon to work out a programme for increasing domestic prices to international ones, so that by 2011 the main competitor for the European market will be our domestic market. And of course we see our primary task as meeting the demands and needs of our Russian consumers, of the public, the utilities sector of our industry and our energy industry.
The diversification of markets is without doubt very important since we cannot put all our eggs into one basket. We are now at a very advanced stage in the development of projects to supply gas to Asian countries and to create projects for the liquefaction of natural gas. These projects will enable us to supply gas to virtually every corner of the world, and in fact Gazprom is becoming a global company. On the basis of subsidiary operations, we will be able to supply gas to South America, India and other countries that require energy resources. Demand for energy is growing. It is obvious that economic growth always brings with it an increase in energy consumption, so solid, long-term contracts for the purchase of Russian gas are very important for many developing economies, and that is what we are working on, Dmitry Antolyevich.
With regard to Ukraine, of course we have to stop this Ukrainian practice, this game of stealing Russian gas. It must now be brought to an end.
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: As you know, one of the causes of the financial crisis was a lack of equality among financial partners and a lack of price equilibrium. Thus the future financial model that all states must now create must be based on universally recognised supervision mechanisms, including for prices, and the upcoming summit will be devoted to this. For this reason I don't think that in the future we should offer special advantages or preferential treatment to any state. If there is a price, it should be the same price for all the countries in Europe, including Ukraine. No discounts, no premiums. Ukrainians should pay exactly what Europeans pay. This is the only way to ensure the competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy and the stability of its political system. It does not help when our Ukrainian comrades take provocative stands dictated by corrupt ambitions. This should be borne in mind.
ALEXEY MILLER: With regard to the next steps to be taken and future proposals for international trade, in particular in primary energy resources, in oil and gas, the question of trade in primary energy resources is an essential item on the agenda, and the international trading infrastructure must change. In particular new trade channels must be created. This issue is being actively discussed by the members of OPEC, in which Russia participates as an observer, as well as by a newly created organisation, the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. New trade flows must be created, and it is important that these channels give rise to new international lending institutions that will guarantee the financial returns of real barrels of oil, of actual cubic metres sold by gas-producing countries. Now at the corporate level there is an active dialogue concerning the outlines of new trade, finance and credit infrastructure. It looks as if in the near future these issues will be on the agenda for our discussions with consumer countries.
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Good. I hope that all this work will continue and that Gazprom will continue to act in the way that it has always done, namely to respect all of its international obligations while first and foremost taking into account Russia’s national interests.
Courtesy Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry
