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Vice Speaker and President of Georgia debate over gas deal with Azerbaijan

Politics Materials 12 February 2011 04:22 (UTC +04:00)
Debate between the vice-speaker of Georgian parliament representing the opposition Levan Vepkhvadze and the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili was held in Parliament on Friday. The price of natural gas, which Georgia buys from Azerbaijan, was the subject of the dispute.
Vice Speaker and  President of Georgia debate over gas deal with Azerbaijan

Georgia, Tbilisi, Feb. 12 / Trend N.Kirtzkhalia /

Debate between the vice-speaker of Georgian parliament representing the opposition Levan Vepkhvadze and the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili was held in Parliament on Friday. The price of natural gas, which Georgia buys from Azerbaijan, was the subject of the dispute.

When Vepkhvadze said that Georgia buys gas at inflated prices, Mikhail Saakashvili interrupted him and asked him to name even a country where gas is cheaper.

For its part, the MP  from the Christian Democrats said that Georgia does not use agreements concluded with Azerbaijan and at the same time forced Gazprom to pay for gas transit. But he failed to name a country where gas is cheaper than in Georgia.

The president accused opponents of "fundamental lie". "No concessions Gazprom does have from us and I can assure you that they pay more here than anywhere else for transit," he said.

Azerbaijan is the main supplier of natural gas to Georgia. Earlier, Georgia received most of its gas from Russia, whose relations with Saakashvili soured after the events of August 2008. In addition, Azerbaijan in the framework of projects of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline supplying oil and natural gas to European markets in transit through Georgian territory.

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