MOSCOW, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Russian energy company Gazprom said it was confident it could sign a new deal for natural gas supplies and transit with Belarus by the end of the year.
Alexei Miller, the top executive at Gazprom, welcomed Vladimir Semashko, first deputy prime minister of Belarus, to his Moscow office to discuss terms of a natural gas deal.
The current deal expires Dec. 31. Miller and Semashko, a statement from Gazprom stated, expressed confidence they could sign a new deal by early December.
"The parties resumed the negotiations on terms and conditions for Russian gas supplies and transit placing an emphasis on the gas price level," the Gazprom statement added. "Under the agreements reached in July, the issues were interlinked with setting the parameters for acquisition of a 50 percent stake in (energy company) Beltransgaz by Gazprom."
Inflation in Belarus is in the double digits and the country's president in June threatened to close the borders if there was a fiscal emergency. Minsk blamed rising prices of natural gas from Russia for some of its economic woes.
A gas discount from Russia would expire this year, after which natural gas prices could be pegged to market conditions.
