Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with his deputy Igor Sechin
29 october 2010
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Mr Sechin, today I spoke with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. We discussed the completion of the work you've done today on the additional protocols to our intergovernmental agreements of 1993 and 2003. This is a good sign pointing to the improvement of our bilateral ties and the growth of trade and economic cooperation. This significant step has produced major results not only for our bilateral ties but also for Europe's entire energy industry. I'm referring to the extension of contracts for the use of Russian gas, the transit of our gas to European consumers through Poland until 2045, that is, for the next 35 years. This is a serious stabilising measure. I'd like to thank you and all of your colleagues who worked on these issues. What can you say about the course of negotiations? What additional agreements have you reached?
Igor Sechin: Mr Putin, in developing your agreements with Mr Tusk, we held a number of consultations at the government and corporate level. Today we've signed additional agreements to the protocols of 1993 and 2003 that you mentioned, as well as a number of corporate documents that will allow us to steadily increase gas supplies to Poland and guarantee the transit of our gas to European consumers through Polish territory until 2045.
This year we'll supply Poland with 9.7 billion cubic metres of gas and will increase this amount to 11 billion cubic metres through 2022.
These documents are very important - they create an international legal foundation for the stable supply of gas to Poland and the rest of Europe. They have allowed us to settle all the contentious issues of the past, come to terms on the mechanisms of tariff formation and reciprocal payments for gas transit in a single package and seal the basic principles of the operation of our joint ventures. And so, fulfilling your instructions, today with Gazrom we signed a very good package of documents in Warsaw.
I'd like to thank our Polish partners for their work on this and Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak for his assistance. Today, we've also had the opportunity to discuss a number of issues related to the preparations for President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Warsaw in December.
We can also successfully cooperate with electricity. I'm referring to a project on the construction of a DC link to increase our export of electricity to Poland. We've also made a proposal to our Polish partners, very tentative so far, to review an opportunity for taking part in the construction of the Baltic nuclear power plant (as shareholders or otherwise). They could take part in marketing and subcontracting as well.
We've discussed the current supply of oil by Russian companies to processing capacities. Our Polish partners told us that the Polish government will make a decision on privatising some domestic oil assets in the next few days. We've agreed that Russian companies could take part in this as well. They have a good standing and may have good prospects for working in the oil industry.
To be brief, we've held very constructive talks and will continue our work, Mr Putin.
Vladimir Putin: Well done. During the past year our trade became 1.6 times lower than it had been and in the first eight months of this year it became 1.5 times higher. No doubt, the documents signed today will consolidate the foundation of our cooperation, promote confidence and create more positive impulses in our joint efforts.
Igor Sechin: We'll continue working.