On 12 December, the Privatisation and Industry Committees held a joint sitting to discuss the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development Information on the course of the negotiations on the realisation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Russian Federation in the oil and gas field.

The sitting was chaired by the Industry Committee Chairman, Milorad Buha and attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development, Mladjan Dinkic and the Minister of Energy and Mining, Petar Skundric and associates.

The Information on the course of the negotiations on the realisation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Russian Federation in the oil and gas field was outlined for the members of both committees and presents deputies by Minister Dinkic. In his address he stressed that the oil and gas Agreement deals with the realisation of three projects: the sale of 51% of the shares of NIS, construction of the South Stream gas pipeline and modernisation of Banatski dvor gas storage facility. The Agreement does not specify project realisation deadlines which will be specified by separate contracts. The Russian side is interested in the privatisation of NIS, but not the other two projects and gives no legal or financial guarantees for them. Also, the Russian side did not specify when they would pay out the agreed price of NIS once the project is realised.

The Committees were also addressed by Minister Skundric who pointed out that the Government has not changed its negotiating platform and that the negotiations are still in progress. The Government has not changed its negotiating team either, with the exception of Minister Dinkic and his associated who left it on personal request. He repeated that the Russian partner had refused to give financial guarantees because they believe that the signed Agreement is guarantee enough for all three projects. He believes that the talks should be seen through to the end, defending Serbia’s interest, and only afterwards estimate the achieved result. A failure in the negotiations could significantly influence interstate relations between Serbia and Russia.

In a longer discussion on the information presented, the deputies criticised the ministers’ conflicting accounts and expressed various opinions on whether the Agreement is enough of a guarantee for the realisation of all three projects.