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January 06, 2007
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Saturday
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Zilhaj 15, 1427
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Talks on oil dispute likely next week
MINSK, Jan 5: Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky plans to hold talks in Moscow next week to defuse a dispute with Russia over oil supplies and transit of the commodity across Belarus, his office said on Friday.
With a politically-charged trade war heating up between the neighbouring former Soviet republics, a Russian official indicated that Moscow was open to talks, but would not submit to a Belarusian demand that it pays an import duty for Russian oil that transits the country on its way to Europe.
Sidorsky will arrive on Wednesday in Moscow for talks, his office said. Russian Deputy Trade Minister Andrei Sharonov said Russia saw the planned visit “as a sign of readiness for negotiations,” but was not prepared to pay the import duty, the Interfax news agency reported.
Belarus, angry over Russia's imposing a duty on oil exports to Belarus and doubling its price for natural gas, announced on Wednesday that it would impose an import duty of $45 per ton of oil that Russia ships across its territory.
The announcement appeared aimed at prompting Russia to reconsider the oil export duty, which Belarusian officials said made Russian oil too expensive.
A government statement on Friday suggested Belarus was prepared to scrap the duty, which amounts to a transit fee, if Russia backed off on the oil export duty or eased its impact.
“The Belarusian side is prepared to conduct a constructive dialogue on resolving oil supply issues, right up to the cancellation of the introduction of compensatory measures if the conditions that prompted them are removed,” the statement said. Belarus profited for years by importing Russian oil duty-free, processing it and selling the products abroad. Faced with the Russian duty, they have indicated they are prepared to equally share profits from oil product sales.
The energy supply and price disputes reflect seriously strained relations between Belarus and Russia, which are linked by centuries of common tradition and pledged a decade ago to tighten ties further by forming a union.—AP
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