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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Memorandum on gas pipeline construction through Serbia to be signed by end-December

Belgrade/Brussels, 22 November 2006

Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining Radomir Naumov has said that Serbian and Russian delegations, at the EU conference on energy, reached an agreement on signing a memorandum on the construction of a gas pipeline through Serbia by the end of December in Moscow.

In a statement to news agency Tanjug, Naumov said that agreement was reached today that details of the realisation of the plan be sorted out by the middle of 2007. He added that delegations of Croatia and Serbia also agreed that the memorandum on construction of the gas pipeline from Constanta to Trieste through Serbia should be signed by the end of this or the beginning of next year.

He stated that the delegation of the Serbian Ministry of Energy and Mining met with ministers of energy from several countries as well as with EU Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs. It was agreed in a meeting with Piebalgs that Serbian government representatives meet with UNMIK officials on Friday to discuss power supply problems in Kosovo-Metohija.

The Minister said that agreement has been reached that a proposal of a solution to this problem be sent immediately to the EU Commissioner for Energy.

Naumov said that this two day conference, which is being held under the auspices of the EU, is of historical significance because the strategy for development of the energy sector in the European community was adopted which practically includes the energy community to which Serbia also belongs.

The Minister pointed to the fact that the basic subject of discussion at the conference in Brussels is a secure energy supply in the future and formation of a joint energy strategy within and outside the EU.

According to Naumov, the conference has gathered several hundred representatives of EU members and other countries, and participants include 30 ministers of energy as well as 15 ministers of foreign affairs of EU countries.

Naumov said that energy has become the focus for the EU, and added that participants of the conference talked on improving energy efficiency, as well as relations with energy producing countries, and in that sense Russia was of primary importance.

He said that participants expressed the expectation that bilateral cooperation with Russia will be established and recommended that risks in investing in energy resources should be borne by both consumers and energy producing countries.