Romania Interested In Restoring Economic Ties With Russia

Romanian firms are to speed up the construction of the last section of the Russia-Turkey gas pipeline (running across the country) and put it into operation by the end of this year, said Romanian Industry and Resources Minister Dan Ioan Popescu, head of the Romanian delegation at the Moscow talks. The negotiations started Tuesday as part of the bilateral economic commission's session and are due to last for two days. The minister thinks that the project's realization is "the largest investment deal in Europe over the past few years (costing over $185 million) and a unique technological operation - the constructors will lay the pipeline on the Danube's bottom and through the Danube-Black Sea canal. According to Popescu, it became possible to tackle the issues of the construction funding due to cooperation with Gazprom by the so-called "goods credit", with the help of extra Russian gas supplies (approx. 1.5 billion cubic meters) for the most appropriate price. The minister is ready to reach an agreement with Russia for the realization of a new project - laying a gas pipeline to Yugoslavia via Romania.