On July 17, the region's head Yunus-Bek Yevkurov met with the ROSSETI delegation headed by the First Deputy General Director for Technical Policy Roman Berdnikov. The parties discussed the current progress for implementing the instructions given by the Russian government on improving the republic's energy sector, particularly focusing on payment discipline pertaining to the electricity used, while also defining new directions of focus.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Sultan Tsechoyev, aide and consultant Issa Tsoloyev, General Director of the Republic's Last Resort Supplier of the North Caucasian Federal District and Kalmykiya (a subsidiary of ROSSETI) Artur Aushev and interim General Director of the North Caucasian Interregional Distribution Grid Company Sergey Arkhipov.

While discussing the issue of working with non-paying consumers, Roman Berdnikov offered his gratitude for the multi-faceted assistance provided by Yunus-Bek Yevkurov in resolving any issues between the last resort supplier and the republic's bailiff services.

Head of the region's last resort suppliers Artur Aushev stated that the level of payments for the republic's last resort supplier IngushEnergo OJSC on the Russian wholesale electricity and power market

amounted to 100.5% in the first half of this year, which is 42.7% higher than the previous year. A significant improvement in the payment discipline for consumers on the retail market was also evident in the first half of this year, which amounted to a 65% increase over the previous year.

The parties also discussed the construction and renovation of the electricity network infrastructure in accordance with the region's development plans, primarily to improve the reliability of the power supply.

This also included the topic of consolidating Ingushetia's network facilities. Meeting participants particularly looked into the possibility of consolidating

Ingushetia's electricity network facilities through the North Caucasus Interregional Distribution Grid Company and settling the debt owed by the companies within the water and sewage treatment sector. Forecasts predict that successfully implementing these agreements will improve payment discipline, will allow for the implementation of a unified technical policy and will also improve the quality and the reliability of services while lowering their costs.

The discussion also raised the issue of the personnel shortage in the sector. ROSSETI offered to implement a program to construct special housing for those working in the energy industry. Roman Berdnikov believes that this would increase the influx of highly qualified personnel into the region while simultaneously improving the use of new generation equipment. Ingushetia's head supported the ROSSETI initiative and gave instructions to appropriate officials to meet with the heads of cities and various regions in the republic to discuss providing land for these purposes.

Roman Berdnikov and Yunus-Bek Yevkurov separately discussed the possibilities of using the parties' potential for creating a cutting-edge transformer maintenance plant in the republic which would serve Ingushetia and the surrounding regions.