BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

10/01/2007

Belarus cancels oil transit tax - prime minister

MINSK, January 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Belarus has canceled the transit tax it imposed on Russian export oil days ago.

Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky has said the measure followed agreements the presidents of the two countries achieved as a result of a long telephone conversation earlier on Wednesday.

Sidorsky said he would go to Moscow on Thursday for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov. According to instructions from both presidents all issues are to be settled over two days.

The ultimate aim is to ensure Russia and Belarus should be able to maintain trading relations within the Customs Union "without exemptions or restrictions."

The achieved results are to be reported to Belarussian and Russian presidents on Friday.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11145073&PageNum=0