"At present, a number of global markets have emerged, for instance, the oil and gas market, the metallurgical market, and the aircraft market. There has not been any practice of regulating such monopoly markets. Such complicated systems cannot be regulated by national legislation alone. Supra-national measures are necessary for this," Mr. Khristenko said as quoted in the press release.
Representatives of the OECD delegation pointed out that universal "rules of the game", a sort of "anti-monopoly legislation" for transnational companies would hardly appear in the foreseeable future.
In speaking about the development of Russian industry Mr. Khristenko said that the sectors oriented not only to the domestic market, but also to the foreign ones, were developing most dynamically today. These are primarily the oil and gas sector and the metallurgical sector.
"This is a fact to be taken into account. Therefore, when we talk about anti-monopoly legislation today, we must take due account of the objectively dominating position of certain companies on the market," Mr, Khristenko continued.
Touching on the effort to reform Russian natural monopolies, Viktor Khristenko drew attention of his foreign colleagues to changes that are taking place in Russia now. "We believe that electricity generation must be a competitive function, therefore it has been passed over to a public sector. Now we are working on the rules for the functioning of the wholesale and retail markets. At the same time, we take due account of Californian and Italian experience in this sphere," the minister noted. "State monopoly will only be preserved for network and dispatcher services," he added.
Russian and EU representatives also discussed the synchronization of networks and dispatcher services. "I believe we shall make some progress by 2007," Mr. Khristenko said. "Today's situation is unique. Energy is the only sphere in which Russia and the European Union can be both suppliers and consumers."
Discussing the reform of the gas market, Mr. Khristenko pointed out that the situation when a country has the only gas monopoly is not unique for Europe. For instance, the Italian Evian company accounts for over 90% of gas production and transportation in the country.
Viktor Khristenko said that transformation in the gas sector would be carried out in a regime of protracted dynamics. "The main thing is to create incentives and possibilities for the activities of independent gas suppliers, but not through dividing Gazprom," the minister believes.
Apart from sectors with the well-established monopolies, there are others in the development of which Russia might be interested. Among them, Mr. Khristenko mentioned hi-tech and aircraft building. "We want to remain the third largest player on this market," he noted.
Victor Khristenko stressed that Russia was interested in creating equitable conditions for the activities of national and foreign investors in the country. As an example, he mentioned automobile building. "Despite the fact that this is a very sensitive sector for Russia, we begin gradually removing the existing barriers. Today, we can talk about investment agreements that are really working, for instance those with the Ford and BMW companies," Mr. Khristenko said in conclusion.
