Minister of Energy and Mining Petar Skundric stressed on Tuesday that a project to construct the Belene nuclear power plant in Bulgaria is very important for Serbia, adding that if Serbia were to participate in it, it would be the first successful joint project of Southeast European countries contributing to regional energy stability.
Skundric, who is attending the Energy Conference of Southeast European countries in Sofia, told Tanjug news agency that he met with Bulgarian Minister of Energy, Economy and Tourism Trajce Trajkov to discuss joint projects in the energy sector, namely the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant, the South Stream gas pipeline and the development of Southeast European gas and electricity networks.
The Minister observed that he informed Trajkov about Serbia’s interest in participating in the construction of the nuclear power plant, noting that the Serbian government will make the final decision on this matter as soon as it is sent detailed information about the project.
Trajkov affirmed that the information will be sent to Serbia as soon as possible, Skundric added.
The progress of the project of gas interconnection between Serbia and Bulgaria was also examined at the meeting. The interconnection’s route between the two countries will be from Dupnitsa to Sofia, from Sofia to Dimitrovgrad and from Dimitrovgrad to Nis.
This interconnection is expected to boost the security of natural gas supplies in both countries, to utilise new sources of gas supply and enable greater integration of the gas market of Southeast Europe, Skundric said.
Serbia expects financial support for the construction of the Nis–Sofia gas pipeline, he underlined and recalled that the realisation of the South Stream gas pipeline is of immense importance for the Balkans and the whole of Europe.
Skundric noted that today's conference in Sofia is very useful as it gathered the energy ministers of Romania, Macedonia, Turkey and Greece, as well as General Manager of the Russian company Rosatom Sergey Kirienko.
At the end of the conference, the energy ministers of countries of the region will sign a declaration on joint efforts to improve the infrastructure capacity in the regional energy sector, which will help to build a unified energy strategy of Southeast European countries.