Gazprom to invest $2.5bn in Belarusian part of Yamal-Europe gas pipeline by 2020

Gazprom will invest about $2.5 billion in the Belarusian part of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline by 2020. President of Russia Vladimir Putin made the statement during the session of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Belarus and Russia in Minsk on 25 February, BelTA has learned.

Russia helps modernize Belarus’ gas transportation system. Apart from the investments that have already been made Gazprom intends to invest about $2.5 billion in the Belarusian section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline by 2020. Over $1 billion is supposed to be spent on increasing the underground gas storage capacity.

Vladimir Putin remarked that the development of manufacturing cooperation, primarily high technologies, should become the key growth factor of the Union State economy. According to the President of Russia, it is necessary to make more science-intensive products and substitute imports, primarily in vulnerable areas, on which the security of the two countries directly depends. Some headway has already been made in this area. The joint production of microelectronics has been started within the framework of special programs. The formation of the common navigation space of Belarus and Russia based on the GLONASS system continues. Projects in the area of the remote sensing of the Earth are also implemented.

Russian-Belarusian cooperation in power engineering proceeds on a strategic scale. The construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is in full swing. “There is no doubt it is one of the flagship projects of ours,” said the President of Russia. Russian investments in the project are estimated at $10 billion.