Azernews.Az

Georgian Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Mariam Valishvili said that the Georgian and Kazakh sides intend to hold a workshop on the transfer of management in KazTransGas -Tbilisi Company to the Kazakh side in late October.

"The planned joint working meeting has not been held yet," she said. "We want to offer to hold the meeting in Georgia. It will likely to be held in late October."

Valishvili said that the members of the Georgian delegation in the bilateral commission are being defined.

According to her, the transfer of management in the company has already been approved by the Georgian government. However, the technical mode of transfer has not been determined yet.

The Kazakh side must explain their further activity and obligations in the company," deputy minister added.Also, the company's work for the last 3-4 years will be analyzed during the meeting. The ways of paying the existing debt by the company will be discussed, she said.

"The company does not have an opportunity to pay this debt at once," she said. "The payment by installments will be required. The schedule and the company which will pay it will be discussed in the negotiations."

Kazakh "KaztransGas" became the owner of "Tbilgazi" gas distribution company's shares after a victory on an investment contest in May 2006. The investor paid $12.5 million for the company.

The Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission appointed special manager to "KaztransGas-Tbilisi" in 2009. The reason was the company's 80 million lari (1 lari= $0.6) worth debt. Moreover, "KaztransGas-Tbilisi" ran into 68 million lari worth debt to the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation.