Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia, Minister of Energy Kakha Kaladze, who also works as Secretary General of ruling party Georgian Dream and is considered to be one of the most influential figures of modern Georgia, once again expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Georgia cannot reach an agreement with Gazprom on monetization of payments for transit of Russian gas to Armenia through the Transcaucasus Pipeline Vladikavkaz-Tbilisi-Yerevan.
"They have their own conditions, we have ours, and we remain on previous positions," he said after another round of talks with the Russian energy giant. About a year ago, when Kaladze met with Alexey Miller, minister said to the author of this article, that Georgian side "can accept" the proposal of Russian colleagues on payment of transit with currency based on international rates, instead of current scheme, according to which Georgia takes 10% of all natural gas transited to Armenia. "We won't give up on this scheme," Kaladze said at the time.
Apparently, talks ended in failure this time for the same reason. However, this year, there is a new topic in consultation with Russian - possible selling 25% of shares of Georgian Oil & Gas Corporation at an auction. This company owns a large gas pipeline from Russia to Armenia. Tbilisi believes that these two topics are certainly connected with each other. "There is an indirect connection, because long time ago Gazprom has expressed a desire to buy gas pipeline, which links Russia with Armenia," former advisor to the Prime Minister Giorgi Khukhashvili said.
The expert thinks that it's "quite natural" that SOCAR is also interested in the gas pipeline, since it's a main supplier of natural gas to Georgia for ten years. "This topic is very sensitive. For Armenia, of course, it is vital, but excessive politicization can only hinder normal commercial negotiations. The approach of Georgian side should be open, principal and honest: 25% of shares of the company will be given to the side that will offer Georgian state the best conditions, in other words, offer more," the expert noted. At the same time Khukhashvili believes that both Gazprom and SOCAR are "serious companies" that "will avoid any politicization."
"I believe that since SOCAR became the main supplier of gas to our country, Baku can offer Tbilisi more favorable conditions," he said, stressing that he is not talking about a controlling interest, so negotiations between all interested parties will be strictly commercial.
