The Bulgarian and
Greek ministers in charge of energymet in Thessaloniki Wednesday in order to
coordinate the project for connecting the natural gas pipeline networks of the
two countries.
The Bulgarian
Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism Traycho Traykov together with his
deputy in charge of energy Mariy Kosevmet with Greece's Minister for the
Environment, Energy and Climate Change Tina Birbili, the press service of the
Economy Ministry announced.
The major goal of the
Traykov-Birbili meetingis to coordinate the construction of the gas transit
pipeline inter-connection between natural gas networks of Bulgaria and
Greece.
In December 2009, the
European Commission pledged funding for this project amounting to EUR 45 M (as
well as another EUR 9 M for a similar project linking Bulgaria and
Romania).
The importance of the
gas pipeline connection with Greece was exposed in the winter of 2009 amidst the
Russia-Ukraine gas conflict, which exposed Bulgaria's vulnerable situation as
its only natural gas pipeline connection is to Russia from which it gets over
90% of its gas.
The Bulgarian Economy
Ministry reminds that Greece is the third largest foreign investor in Bulgaria
after Austria and the Netherlands with EUR 3.4 B of FDI in 1996-2009, or a total
of 9% of all foreign investments in Bulgaria in the above-mentioned
period.