Gazprom signs €2 bn loan agreement with Bank of ChinaMarch 4, 2016 - 10:47 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Bank of China will give Gazprom a 2 billion euro ($2.2 billion), five-year loan, the Russian state-run energy company's largest loan agreement from a single credit institution, the Associated Press reports. In a Thursday, March 3 press release, Gazprom said this is the company's first loan deal with the Bank of China. Driven by China's growing energy needs, Beijing has been investing tens of billions of dollars abroad to help other countries develop their natural gas resources that can then be exported to China. In May 2014, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation signed a $400 billion contract to buy natural gas from Gazprom over 30 years. Gazprom, the state gas monopoly, has been hard hit by Western sanctions, which tightened the terms and restrictions on loans from Western lenders to the company. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |