An agreement which will put an end to a four-year gas transit row between Russia and Poland may be signed on October 17, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said on Friday.
"On Oct. 17, the next round of negotiations on the agreement will be held. I would like to be optimistic," Shmatko told journalists during his visit to Ukraine.
He said the agreement would cover a shorter period than the 2045 contract term earlier agreed on.
"It will be signed for a shorter term, but not just a year or two [less than 2045]," Shmatko said.
The row between Poland and Gazprom started in 2006, when Warsaw wanted to increase the transit tariff on its stretch of the Yamal-Europe pipeline to $2 from $1.94 for 1,000 cubic meters per 100 kilometers.
Gazprom insisted on a rate set by an intergovernmental agreement and filed a suit against Poland, which it won in 2008.
KIEV, October 15 (RIA Novosti)
