Kazakhstan has not received official offer to establish gas union with Russia, Uzbekistan - PM

ASTANA. Jan 11 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan has not received an official offer to establish a gas union with Russia and Uzbekistan, Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov said.

"As of this moment, we have not received any official offers to establish a trilateral gas union. Therefore, we will consider this after the offer is received," Smailov said in response to an Interfax question on the government meeting's sidelines on Wednesday.

He said that bilateral negotiations with Russia were in progress.

"Bilateral negotiations on gas supply are being held with Russia. We are awaiting the next round of negotiations with Gazprom, and these relations will have a commercial, mutually advantageous basis. I mean we keep working in the bilateral format," he said.

Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov said earlier that Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan were discussing technical capacities of gas transmission systems.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on November 28, 2022, that Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the need for a trilateral union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at their talks. Tokayev said that Kazakhstan "needs to look into the issue in order to arrive at the necessary results and agreements."

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters later that Russia was planning to use the project of a trilateral gas union with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to meet the domestic gas demand of these countries and to bolster the export potential.