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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Stronger links between regional energy systems lead to safer energy supply

Belgrade, 12 March 2007

Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining Radomir Naumov stated today in Sofia that stronger links between energy systems in the region are a key step for overcoming the increasingly evident electric energy deficiency in southeast European countries.

At a ministerial conference on energy in the region and Europe, being held on the occasion of the closing of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, Naumov stressed that stronger links between energy systems are a precondition for improving the safety of energy supply at national and international levels, as well as for the development of the regional energy market.

He emphasised that in this sense, Serbia defined the projects to help stimulate the linking of the electric energy system and gas and natural gas systems with those of its neighbouring countries.

Serbia is actively working on linking the electric energy system, which is reflected in projects with Hungary (the construction of a 400kV power transmission line between Sombor and Paks), Romania (a 400kV power transmission between Vrsac and Timisoara) and Macedonia (a 400kV power transmission between Nis and Skopje), said Naumov.

The Minister added that Serbia is also working on linking its gas pipelines with Bulgaria (the main pipeline Dimitrovgrad–Dupnica), Romania (Mokrin–Arad), Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as on developing the project to construct the Pan-European gas pipeline (Konstanta–Pancevo–Trieste).

According to Naumov, the formation of suitable financial mechanisms for supporting such projects is a key issue having in mind that huge amount of capital is needed in order to finalise the linking of energy systems.

The meeting in Sofia concludes tomorrow and energy ministers from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovak Republic and the UNMIK representative will be presented with the text of the Declaration in which the European Commission will be asked to reconsider the decision to close down the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, that is to extend the deadline for closing until new production capacity is constructed to compensate for the loss of the plant.