Belarussian Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov on Saturday urged fellow countrymen to save energy and said the government would pay closer attention to energy efficiency in efforts to meet the challenges lying ahead.

Kobyakov, whose country had just signed a duty agreement with Russia after an oil row, said that although the government had no plan to raise the prices of domestic energy products, the prices of oil products may still rise due to inflation, according to reports from the Belarussian capital of Minsk.

The energy conservation drive in the country would gain momentum as a result of the possible price hike, he said, adding that the rules of market economy prompt everyone to take into account the issue of energy efficiency.

Energy saving would become an important task of Belarus' economic development in 2006-2010, said the deputy prime minister.

He said this year's inflation was forecast to stand at 6-8 percent, and that any price hike should be kept below that level.

Kobyakov denied any linkage between the possible price hike of oil products and the new agreement with Russia, saying Belarus did not make any concession in the negotiations and the two countries solved their oil dispute in a "civilized" manner.

The new agreement would not hurt the government's finances and the country's economy, nor would the oil processing industry be affected, he said.

After some 10 hours of tense talks in Moscow, Russia and Belarus signed a three-year agreement on Friday, under which Russia will cut the duty on oil exports to Belarus to 53 U.S. dollars, down from the 180 dollars, and Belarus will share with Moscow a substantial amount of profits from the refined oil products it sells to Europe.

Source: Xinhua