Filat hopes gas supply agreement with Russia will be signed by year's end

Prime Minister Vlad Filat hopes the new agreement for Russian gas supply will be signed by the end of the year, now that the Energy Community Ministerial Council on Thursday accepted Moldova's request to postpone implementation of the Third Energy Package from 2016 to 2020. Vlad Filat said that, with the Ministerial Council's assent in place, it is necessary to focus all attention on negotiating the intergovernmental agreement on energy cooperation with the Russian Federation and a new gas supply agreement between Moldovagaz and Gazprom. The postponement in particular concerns a provision in the Energy Package requiring the unbundling of gas transmission systems and of system operators, which troubled the Russians.