RAO UESR CEO Anatoly Chubais Meets UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks
Moscow, 13 September 2005. Today, the Chairman of the Management Board of RAO
"UES of Russia" Anatoly Chubais held a meeting in Moscow with Malcolm Wicks,
Britain's Minister of State for Energy.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the current state of the Russian electricity
reform. Anatoly Chubais stated, in particular, that the reform of RAO "UES of
Russia" had entered the final stage and informed the UK Energy Minister about the
steps the Company was planning to take to complete the reform in accordance with the plan
approved by the Russian Government.
The parties also discussed the possibilities of foreign companies' participation in the
Russian energy sector. According to Anatoly Chubais, talks were underway between RAO
"UES of Russia" and some major European energy companies on the latters'
involvement in the electricity sector of Russia.
Anatoly Chubais and Malcolm Wicks dwelled on the role of business in global climate
change and the opportunities created by the Kyoto Protocol* for investments in
re-equipment and modernization of the sector. Anatoly Chubais said that, this summer, two
energy subsidiaries of RAO "UES of Russia" had been the first in Russia to make
contracts to sell the greenhouse gas emission reduction units obtained as a result of
modernization of power plants in Khabarovsk Kray and Orenburg Region to the Danish
Environmental Protection Agency. RAO "UES of Russia" is now awaiting the
adoption by the Russian Government of the necessary regulatory framework, following which
the contracts will become effective.
The UK Energy Minister expressed his hope that the regulatory framework for the
implementation of the Kyoto Protocol in Russia would soon be adopted, which will guarantee
successful development of cooperation in environment protection between the two countries.
At the close of the meeting, the parties discussed the questions relating to the
meeting of the EU - Russia Industrialists Round Table scheduled to be held 2 October 2005
in London. Anatoly Chubais said that representatives of Russia's energy business, which
form one of the Task Forces, are prepared to actively develop the dialogue with the
Russian Government and foreign partners on the implementation of the energy component of
the Roadmap in the common European economic space.
* The Kyoto Protocol is an international environmental treaty ratified by 118
countries. The Protocol obliges the industrially developed countries to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions in 2008-2012 by 5.2% compared to the level of 1990.
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