BELGRADE, January 16 (RIA Novosti) – Serbian Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlovic has reiterated that the price of imported Russian natural gas was too high considering the level of friendly relations between the two countries.

“The price of the Russian gas is an important parameter for Serbia,” Mihajlovic said at a meeting with Russian ambassador Alexander Chepurin on Tuesday.

“Its current price for the Serbian market is too high considering the economic situation in our country and friendly relations between Russia and Serbia,” she said.

Russia is the main supplier of natural gas to Serbia. Russia’s energy giant Gazprom delivered 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas to Serbia in 2011.

Under the current contract between Serbia’s state-run Srbijagas and YugoRosGaz, a Gazprom subsidiary in Serbia, the Balkan republic currently pays $470 per 1,000 cubic meters for Russian gas supplies.

Serbia hopes that Russia could lower the price to $420 per 1,000 cubic meters.

Russia and Serbia signed last October an intergovernmental agreement on deliveries of Russian natural gas to Serbia for the period until 2021.

The framework document envisions annual supplies of 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Serbia by Gazprom.

Gazprom and Srbijagas will be signing contracts regulating the price and delivery volumes every year throughout the timeframe of the new agreement.