Pavol Kinčeš, general manager of the state-run company Slovenský plynárenský priemysel (SPP), was also in an unofficial delegation accompanying Slovak Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda and Economy Minister Ľudovít Černák in their April visit to Italy. While he acted as an advisor to the Prime Minister of the Slovak Government, in fact he was lobbying primarily for the strategic interests of Slovak gas officials.

We therefore started our interview with a question regarding the main goal of his negotiations with the representatives of gas trading company SNAM which is part of the state-run concern ENI Group.

"My objective was to confirm the hitherto developments of mutual cooperation and get ahead with certain things. We have developed two projects we want to offer to a foreign partner.

The first project is SPPis joint participation in the international tender on introduction of gas in Greece. We needed to explain each other certain unclarities and opinions. The Italian party confirmed corrections to its proposals and we agreed to continue negotiations at an expert level.

The second project regards the construction of a steam-gas power plant nearby the town of Lučenec. This project has already entered a certain stage of solution and a third partner that has been approached - Russian gas company Gazprom - is to become involved in it," Pavol Kinčeš said in the interview for EUROFORUM.

Mr. director, what are reasons for the construction of a steam-gas power plant near Lučenec?

The territory surrounding Lučenec is suitable for a number of factors. There are premises from the former compressor station, a close gas transit system, and also the conditions for connecting generated electricity to a high-voltage line. These three major economic-technical reasons plus a beneficial solution to employment led to the Lučenec locale being picked up of all places as an optimum site for the construction.

When do you expect the conclusion of discussions and concrete contracts for these projects? Will they be on the agenda even during the June visit to Bratislava of Italian Foreign Trade Minister Piero Fassini?

These processes will take some time. With respect to the project in Greece, we are in the second round. SPP was selected from among a number of bidders. We made a shorter list along with two other bidders, with the bidding proceeding being due to complete this yearis fall. For the time being, we are carrying out acquisition and support activities just in case we will succeed.

As goes Lučenec, the project requires a certain time. A conducted study says of the power plant completion as late as 2002, but provided that certain principal solutions and the conclusion of fixed contractual obligations should be implemented within twelve months.

You mentioned certain unclarities in negotiations with Italian gas officials. Could you comment on them more specifically? Are they related to your project on gas introduction in Greece?

I would not say that some major unclarities are at issue. Rather, it is a matter of pushing through a certain competence within the management bodies in a future company. We talked about the percentage redistribution of involvement. This is a project which is part of an international tender or also EU countries are participating in it. The gas introduction in Greece will also call for funds to come from the Union. We as a non-EU bidder stand lower chances than EU bidders. Since we made a bid for the tender singlehandedly, we do need partners for some cooperation. The point is for us to agree with our trading partners upon balanced shares.

If I understand you correctly, you have negotiated the establishment of a joint venture?

Yes. The point is the establishment of a consortium with Italgasis granddaughter company. I believe that we have already surmounted certain problems. If SPP fails in the tender, we have the possibility of offering our services under subcontracts.

And if SPP succeeds, how many year project will be in point?

I do not wish to talk about the financial volume as yet. Under the tender terms and conditions, an offer on the purchase of the licence to use the gas, distribution and high-pressure systems for a period of 50 to 70 years has been signed. It is a strategical project in which the Greek party, a project coordinator, holds a 51 % share. The rest is assigned to those partners who enter with capital and investment. The point is that their investment may effectively return back after a certain time.