Energy cooperation with Tajikistan useful for Russia – paper

Vecherniy Dushanbe, Dushanbe
26 Nov 04

The chairman of Russia’s national electricity grid is keen to
synchronize the Iranian energy system with those of the CIS and Baltic
states and says the Tajik energy minister can offer valuable
assistance in this, Tajikistan’s Vecherniy Dushanbe newspaper reported
on 26 November. The following are excerpts from the report:

Anatoliy Chubays, the chairman of the board of the Unified Energy
System of Russia joint-stock company, was recently re-elected chairman
of the CIS Electrical Energy Council for another year. This decision
was adopted by the council, which includes 12 CIS countries, during a
meeting in Baku on 19 October.

[Anatoliy] Chubays told journalists after the meeting that he was the
only one to vote against prolonging his authority. “I myself proposed
that a new chairman be elected, but my colleagues did not support me,”
he said. A. Chubays also said Jurabek Nurmahmadov, Tajik minister of
energy, was re-elected as the deputy chairman. [Passage omitted:
general detail]

On the subject of the benefit for Chubays, it is worth remembering an
intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Tajikistan, signed in
Dushanbe on 16 October this year, on the terms and conditions for
constructing the Sangtudin hydroelectric power station. According to
the agreement, Russia intends to invest about 250m dollars in the
construction of this station. Chubays has been planning the Unified
Energy System of Russia joint-stock company’s cooperation with
Tajikistan (naturally, for the benefit of the company), and via
Tajikistan with Iran. That is why he said in Dushanbe that the Unified
Energy System of Russia is interested in completing the construction
of the Sangtudin hydroelectric power station within the framework of
trilateral cooperation between Russia, Tajikistan and Iran.

But he then voiced his final aim in Baku: “My position is to actively
support the synchronizing of the Iranian energy system with those of
Armenia and Turkmenistan, and then to synchronize it with other CIS
countries.”

Chubays also said in the Azeri capital that he would soon visit Iran
for a detailed discussion of possible cooperation in synchronizing the
Iranian energy system with those of the CIS and Baltic countries.

“The Tajik energy minister can provide me with significant assistance
in implementing this programme,” Chubays said.

In fact, close cooperation between Chubays and Nurahmadov is
beneficial for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Tajik President
Emomali] Rahmonov as well, since electricity is a resource shaping
branch of the whole economy.

The next session of the CIS Electrical Energy Council will be held in
Tbilisi in April 2005.