Moscow, 20 April 2005. In the evening of 19 April 2005, Boris Ayuyev, member of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" and Chairman of the Management Board of "SO-CDO for UES" JSC and Martin Fuchs, President of UCTE* and President of E.ON Netz, signed in Brussels, Belgium, a Cooperation Agreement to carry out a Feasibility Study on Synchronous Interconnection of the energy systems of the Western, Central, and Southern Europe with the UES of Russia and the interconnected power systems of the CIS and Baltic states (IPS/UPS).

The signing of the Cooperation Agreement enabled the parties to launch the technical feasibility study on the synchronous interconnection between the IPS/UPS and UCTE to determine the parties' requirements and estimate associated cost. Earlier, the project received political support within the framework of the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue.

The feasibility study is being prepared under the aegis of the CIS Electric Power Council** and UCTE. The study will be conducted by experts of the system operators from Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Spain, France, Slovakia, and Romania, representing UCTE, and experts of the energy companies from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and Estonia, representing the IPS/UPS.

The study of unprecedented scope and significance will be based on the principles of cooperation and partnership of the parties involved. By the end of 2006, a conceptual report is to be produced with tentative answers to the questions of the study, which will make it possible to take a decision on the feasibility of synchronous interconnection of the energy systems of Europe and the CIS and Baltic countries.

* UCTE, the Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity, is an association of 34 system operators in Europe.