Slovakia is waiting for the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

From 6 to 7 April 2010 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will be on an official visit to Slovakia. This will be the first visit of the current head of the Russian state to the Slovak Republic. The invitation for visiting Slovakia Dmitry Medvedev received some time ago from the Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic.

Formally, the Russian President's visit is timed to the celebration in Slovakia of the 65th anniversary since the liberation from Nazi invaders. However, a major reason for this visit is likely to be considered the interests of the largest Russian raw materials companies of Gazprom and Transneft. Both of them plan to sign several agreements in Slovakia related to energy supplies in the country. In particular, representatives of Gazprom have an intention to consider the issue of construction of storage facilities, which Slovakia raised in November 2009. Also among the interests of Gazprom is creation of a joint venture in Slovakia, which will be engaged in supplying of gas to the Slovak market.

It is worth noting that on the eve of Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Slovakia "Gazprom" has made concessions to the Slovak side on a delicate matter. It was a recent lawsuit filed by Slovakia to Gazprom for the failure of gas supply in 2008-2009. The suit was filed by Slovensky plynarensky priemysel Company to the International Court of Arbitration in Paris a month ago. We want you to recall that the stoppage of gas supply in some countries in Central and Southern Europe, including Slovakia, were caused by the energy conflict between Russia and Ukraine. On March 30, 2010 it was announced that Gazprom had agreed to make concessions for Slovakia in the supply of gas in exchange for a review of the claim. The cost of concessions was about 180 million dollars.

As for the "Transneft", here the main interest in the building of an oil pipeline that would connect the largest Slovak oil refinery Slovnaft in Bratislava and the Austrian plant Schwechat. Thus, the company intends to significantly increase oil supplies for Austrian consumers.