97.04 - Follow-up on institutional issues

This project aimed to the implementation of the umbrella agreement and the establishment of the commercial common insterstate operators for oil and gas for the rehabilitation or new construction of infrastructures. Countries included were: Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan

The first group of objectives achieved included the provision to all the Beneficiary States of:

(a) Assistance in the elaboration, finalisation and signature of the draft Protocol on the Settlement of Disputes, as part of the Umbrella Agreement institutional framework;
(b) Assistance in the ratification of the Umbrella Agreement and the Protocol on the Settlement of Disputes and entry into force of the said agreements by the presentation, upon the request of the Beneficiaries, of the rationale and methodology of the institutional framework to the appropriate bodies (such as the Parliaments of the Beneficiaries);
(c) Assistance in the design and establishment of an INOGATE Technical Secretariat which will support the implementation of the institutional framework and of specific projects under the Umbrella Agreement;
(d) Assistance in the setting up of a Trust Fund which will provide insurance against political and possibly other risks that investors in oil, gas and processed products transportation projects in the region are facing;
(e) Elaboration of a guide on the drawing up of contracts based on the Umbrella Agreement, which will facilitate the establishment and implementation of projects based on the Umbrella Agreement institutional framework.

The second category of objectives achieved consisted of:

(a) The identification and evaluation of projects which will constitute coherent transportation systems and will facilitate the interstate transportation of oil and gas and their processed products;
(b) The provision of expert assistance in the selection of projects which meet the set criteria;
(c) The preparation of all the necessary documentation (legal, technical, financial, managerial) for the implementation of the selected projects;
(d) The training of local experts in hydrocarbon transportation and trading contract negotiations;
(e) The training of local experts in the management of oil transportation operations.