Thursday, January 30 2020 17:34

ArmInfo.Work on a draft agreement on the import of petroleum products into Armenia continues and, in principle, is in the final stage at which it was at the end  of last year. Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Armenia Timur Urazaev  stated this in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent.

"As far as I know, the ball is in Armenian court, that is, some  provisions are polished, as I understand it. For its part Kazakhstan  has entirely completed the issue. But, the implementation of the plan  for the export and sale of Kazakhstani petroleum products on the  Armenian market is not only just to sign the agreement, "the  ambassador stated, pointing out several components that should be  provided.

According to the diplomat, we are talking about logistics and mutual  obligations of the parties, including regarding the avoidance of  re-export of these same Kazakhstani petroleum products.

Urazaev argued that any attempt to organize re-export channels will  automatically lead to a rise in the cost of these same petroleum  products for Kazakhstani consumers in Kazakhstan itself, since  everything will be exported outside the country, recalling that oil  and petroleum product exporters are always interested in making a  profit.

"Most likely, work is being done to ensure that this black hole does  not form, regulatory conditions are being worked out to prevent  re-export and export, the exact volumes of the needs of the Armenian  market are calculated, who will be the operator specifically for this  agreement, because they also take certain obligations and certain  business risks to consumers of these products, " Urazaev said.

From this point of view, according to the ambassador of Kazakhstan,  the correct and accurate drafting of all the provisions of this  agreement is a good guarantee for the normal functioning of the oil  market in general in other countries of the Eurasian Economic Union.  He recalled that the absence of certain mutual agreements and  settlements of certain parameters in the process of exporting various  goods and services in the EAEU space gives rise to many problems.  "Then we, the EAEU countries, have to rake them, sometimes we have to  swear about this. And to prevent this, it's better to prepare the  contractual basis," the ambassador said.

At the same time, he found it difficult to give at least approximate  dates for the complete completion of the negotiation process. "As far  as I know, the Kazakh side has no deadlines. As far as I know, the  Armenian side has some reasonable deadlines in order to diversify  import supplies of petroleum products and dilute the number of  participants in the local Armenian market. And Kazakhstan, frankly,  is only interested the problem of not allowing re-export and the  freedom of capacity of volumes of oil products, "the Kazakh diplomat  summed up.

It should be noted that in December last year, Deputy Minister of  Energy of Kazakhstan, Asset Magauov at a briefing in the CCS informed  that Kazakhstan and Armenia are ready to sign an agreement on the  supply of Kazakhstani petroleum within a month, if the parties timely  carry out intra-state coordination.  "Now Armenian has accepted all  the proposals of Kazakhstan on the text of the agreement on the  export of Kazakh petroleum. After we agreed with the project, we sent  it to domestic procedures. There are several inconsistencies between  the ministries. In particular, between the Ministry of Finance and  the Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan there is a  different vision in separate wordings. We assume that next week we  will hold a separate meeting with these government agencies. We'll  try to remove the comments>, said Asset Magauov, Deputy Minister of  Energy, at a briefing in the CCS.

The agreement must also undergo a procedure of linguistic and legal  expertise. After that, the Armenian side will announce the supply  volumes. , -  Asset Magauov concluded.

We also note that discussions about the entry of oil products from  Kazakhstan to the Armenian market began at the end of 2018. The final  deadlines for the completion of all procedures have not yet been  determined.