Russia to be reliable gas supplier for Europe, states Gazprom Chair

Russia will remain a reliable gas supplier for Europe, Viktor Zubkov, Chairman of the Gazprom Board of Directors and Russian Special Presidential Representative for Cooperation with Gas Exporting Countries, said at the Central European Gas Congress (CEGC) in Bratislava on Tuesday. "Russia has been and will remain prepared to serve as a serious economic partner for each European country and as a reliable natural gas supplier. In this respect we clearly strive to boost all aspects of energy security; we're adopting necessary risk-reduction measures, including measures on developing non-transit routes", he said. "Although it's been said that all is well in Ukraine today, events of recent years have shown that this transit link only creates risks for gas supplies and sales", said Zubkov. According to him, Russia hopes that the European gas market as a whole - including Central Europe - will keep developing long term. "Development of gas networks will soon allow the creation of a single internal European gas market", said Zubkov. At Government Office on the same day, Zubkov met Vice-premier for Investments Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD), who stressed that energy security is a strategic goal for Slovakia. Pellegrini at the same time stressed that Slovakia is interested in continuing long-term cooperation with Gazprom concerning "reliable gas transit" across Slovakia. When it came to the talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the European Union, the Slovak Government representative said that he believes that an agreement will be reached to ensure smooth gas supplies to Slovakia and gas transit further to the EU. Nevertheless, the Slovak Government would like to see a long-term stable solution to ensure gas supplies to Slovakia and the EU via a major transit corridor.