A working meeting between Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich and Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller took place on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2023 on 1 November.
“We continue working with our Russian colleagues on the formation of common gas and electricity markets. A draft interstate agreement on electricity has been already worked out,” Viktor Karankevich said.
“A nuclear power plant is an element of increased energy independence of the country. It is both diversification of energy resources and reduction of dependence on hydrocarbon fuel,” Viktor Karankevich said.
Thanks to the stimulus measures taken by the head of state and the government, the electricity consumption in the country in January-September 2023 increased by 1.8 billion kilowatt-hours to total 29.8 billion kilowatt-hours, Viktor Karankevich said.
"The project of the Belarusian nuclear power plant construction is at the final stage,” the minister said. The first power unit has been put into operation and has already worked through two maintenance cycles. It was put into the second preventive maintenance on 6 October 2023.