国际英语新闻：Russia, Slovakia mull establishing joint gas venture

MOSCOW, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Slovakia plan to establish a joint venture which will distribute Russian gas in Slovak, news agencies quoted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as saying on Monday.

    "We have discussed the possibility of setting up a joint venture between Gazprom and Slovak partners to distribute natural gas in Slovakia," Putin told reporters after talks with his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico.

    Fico, for his part, said the company would supply gas for consumers as well as build and operate gas storage facilities in Slovakia.

    Fico added that the final decision would come after working groups complete work on details of the project.

    The Slovak prime minister later met with Alexei Miller, chief of Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom. They agreed to launch talks on forming the joint venture as soon as possible.

    Gazprom pumped 6.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Slovakia last year. About 50 billion cubic meters of Russian gas are delivered to Europe through Slovakia annually.