The negotiations with Russkiy Aluminiy (Russian Aluminum вЂ" RUSAL) JSC on the project on the construction of an aluminum plant in Azerbaijan are being held not impulsively, Trend reports.
Yuriy Schedrin, the Head of the Russian Trade Representative Office to Azerbaijan, has said today that at the end of 2006, the alarming tendency had formed to cut the negotiations down, as well as the withdrawal of the RUSAL Representative Office to Azerbaijan from Baku.
However, the Azerbaijani party has become showing its interest to this issue again, he said.
Within the above-mentioned project, the Russian party has put forward some requirements on establishing privileges on energy resources, since the production of aluminum is a power-consuming process.
According to the calculations made by specialists, the expenses on electric power in the prime cost of the aluminum production reaches 75%, therefore, the production is not real without the installation of significant energy capacities, admitted he.
He noted that due to this, the Russian party had asked for the electric power lax tariffs to set up the energy capacities, however, no agreement on this issue had been reached, and therefore, these issues would be considered again.
The investments to this project may exceed $1 bln.