A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Pavel Grachev, Director General of the Far East & Baikal Region Development Fund took place today as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2013.

The parties stressed that the implementation of Gazprom's large-scale projects under the Eastern Gas Program would be essential for boosting economic and social development of Eastern Russia.

In this context, Alexey Miller and Pavel Grachev expressed mutual interest in creating favorable conditions for developing the gas industry in Eastern Russia, shaping a gas market there and attracting additional investments into related sectors.

The meeting resulted in the signing of a Cooperation Agreement.

The document stipulates that the parties will interact in developing transportation, energy and engineering infrastructure of gas industry facilities in the Far East and the Baikal Region, as required for the projects implemented under the Eastern Gas Program.

The parties also agreed to promote cooperation in Eastern Russia when preparing and executing projects that would use Gazprom's gas and receive financial support from the Fund.

In order to implement the provisions of the Agreement a joint working group will be set up.

Background

The state-run Eastern Gas Program was approved in September 2007 by the Russian Industry and Energy Ministry. Gazprom was appointed by the Russian Government as the Program execution coordinator.

Eastern Russia has so far seen the creation of new gas production centers in Sakhalin and Kamchatka. A gas production center is being actively shaped in Yakutia, similar centers in Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk are next in turn. In parallel, gas transmission capacities are being developed and gas processing plants are to be created.

The Far East & Baikal Region Development Fund (Vnesheconombank Group) is a development institute established in 2011. The Fund promotes the comprehensive development of investment activities by supporting infrastructure and industrial projects in the Far East and the Baikal Region.