Vlad Filat, Igor Suvalov to talk gas-related issues

Prime Minister Vlad Filat said he will discuss the possibility of renegotiating the contract for the supply of Russian gas with Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Info-Prim Neo reports. The price of the gas imported by Moldova from Russia will be increased again at the end of April. This rise, according to the director of the National Agency for Energy Regulation Victor Parlikov, will lead to an increase of about 10% in the charges for end-users. Vlad Filat said though it is too early to discuss the increase in charges, he will raise the issue at the meeting with Igor Shuvalov, who is paying a working visit to Chisinau today, Match 31. The Moldovan Premier is skeptical that the clauses of the contract signed by the Communist Government and Gazprom could be modified. Under the contract, by February 2011 Moldova will pay US$380 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas, which is the European purchase price. “The price we pay now is by 10% lower than the European price. Now we can only deal with the situation left by the Communist Government,” Filat said, adding that the given issue will be also discussed at the meeting of the CIS heads of state set to take place late in May. The trade unions in Moldova threaten they will take strike action if the Government does not raise the compensations paid to poor families. “The executive will discuss the possibility of increasing the compensations with the employers and trade unions,” Vlad Filat said, commenting on trade unions' requests.