Georgia, Russia in talks over hydropower plant

[Javaman]

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLC10319620090112?rpc=401&

TBILISI, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Georgia said on Monday it was in talks with Russian electricity trader Inter RAO (IRAO.MM) over joint control of the vital Enguri hydroelectric power plant, which straddles Georgia's de facto border with breakaway Abkhazia.

"We are in talks to create a council with equal representation, which will manage the operation of the Enguri plant," Georgian Energy Minister Alezander Khetaguri told reporters.

He said a memorandum on the start of negotiations was signed in Tbilisi at the end of December, despite a war between the two countries over breakaway South Ossetia in August.

The Enguri plant generates 4.2 billion kwh of electricity per year, accounting for 45 percent of Georgian electricity generation. Under a deal between Tbilisi and Abkhazia, which threw off Georgian rule in the early 1990s, the breakaway region gets 1.2 billion kwh.

(and that war was about???)