“Today we agreed to expand the Vertical Corridor with North Macedonia and Serbia, as well as to institutionalize the cooperation of the four states. The next meeting will take place in September in Belgrade. With a common vision and plan, energy becomes a force of convergence and prosperity in the region,” declared Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, after the completion of the Four-Party Ministerial Meeting on Energy and Connectivity in Southeast Europe in Athens on Friday, May 15, with the participation of Ministers and representatives responsible for Energy affairs from Greece, Serbia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
The meeting was attended by Minister of Environment and Energy Mr. Stavros Papastavrou, Serbia’s Energy Minister Ms. Dubravka Handanović, North Macedonia’s Minister of Energy and Mining Ms. Sanja Bozinovska, Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy Mr. Nikos Tsafos, Serbia’s Deputy Minister of Energy, Mining and Petroleum Mr. Saša Koković, Serbia’s Deputy Minister of Electricity and Mining Mr. Radoš Popadić, and Bulgaria’s Deputy Energy Minister Mr. Kiril Temelkov. Also present were DESFA CEO Ms. Maria Sferuzza, DESFA Chairman Mr. Paschalis Bouchoris, and ADMIE Chairman and CEO Mr. Manousos Manousakis, along with heads of the relevant Transmission System Operators for Electricity and Natural Gas from Serbia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
During the proceedings, participants exchanged views on European and regional energy security challenges, strengthening interconnections and energy cooperation in the region, as well as the need to accelerate strategic energy infrastructure. They also decided to institutionalize the Four-Party Ministerial, with the next meeting to take place in Serbia in September.
Papastavrou: “Energy builds bridges of stability and cooperation”
After the completion of the four-party meeting, Mr. Papastavrou made the following statement: “Geography and history have divided us for decades. Energy builds bridges of stability and cooperation. Today’s meeting of the Energy Ministers of Greece, Serbia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria confirmed that energy security and regional cooperation are priorities for all of us. Greece plays a leading role in the new European architecture with projects of strategic importance. Infrastructure, interconnections, market coupling, the Vertical Corridor – projects that enhance supply security, strengthen geopolitical stability and create development conditions in the region. Today we agreed to expand the Vertical Corridor with North Macedonia and Serbia, as well as to institutionalize cooperation among the four states. The next meeting will be held in September in Belgrade. With a common vision and plan, energy becomes a force of convergence and prosperity in the region.”
Serbia’s Energy Minister, Ms. Dubravka Handanović, emphasized: “Very good and productive was the regional Ministerial Meeting in Athens and I am grateful to Minister Papastavrou for organizing it. It is very important that we discuss improving our interconnections and connectivity in the region. The goal is to complete the Serbia-North Macedonia natural gas interconnector by the end of 2027. We are in the process of securing spatial permits for both the interconnection and the northern section of the natural gas pipeline network to the city of Vranje. Our section will have a capacity of one and a half billion cubic meters. Serbia plans to invest 1.2 billion euros in natural gas infrastructure over the coming years and in strengthening pipelines passing through our country, as envisioned in the ‘Serbia 2030-2035’ plan. Serbia is the first country among EU candidate countries that meets the requirements for coupling with the European Union electricity market. We have harmonized our regulatory framework and are awaiting confirmation from the European Commission. Greece and Bulgaria also have interest in market coupling, as EU member states and as countries connected to transmission systems with which we will integrate. We need support in Brussels to complete these processes as soon as possible. The next meeting will take place in Belgrade in autumn. We are pleased to be the hosts and will consider inviting other countries as well.”
North Macedonia’s Minister of Energy and Mining, Ms. Sanja Bozinovska, stressed: “First of all, I would like to thank the Greek Minister for this opportunity. This is a meeting happening for the first time and it is very important that the four countries sat together at the same table. Although two countries are EU members and the other two are not, I think we all agreed that regional cooperation is very important. We discussed projects each country is working on. There are joint projects we are implementing together. We talked about projects each country has with Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece. North Macedonia is working on the interconnection with Greece. Yesterday we published the tender for Serbia. So by the end of next year we will be ready and the Greece-North Macedonia-Serbia interconnection will be operational. Then we discussed even greater regional cooperation. We agreed to hold another meeting. I believe this is an excellent opportunity for all of us to sit together this way and for all energy sector participants to express their interest and say that we need to cooperate even more.
We agreed the next meeting will be in Belgrade, then in Skopje and then in Sofia. So we will have regular meetings of this type.”
Bulgaria’s Deputy Energy Minister, Mr. Kiril Temelkov stated: “I am really very happy to be here, following the invitation from Minister Papastavrou. We are here together with our colleagues from North Macedonia and Serbia. We discussed extensively the completion of energy infrastructure and market integration between our countries and concluded that all these countries need to develop very close relationships and cooperate closely for the development of our energy systems, because ultimately this is the way for us to be much safer, much more reliable in our mutual relations and ensure reliability for our citizens. We identified truly very important projects that we can continue to develop in the region. Connectivity is not just about Bulgaria and Greece. We are happy that we have a very good relationship and very good interconnection between our two countries. However, we realized that, together with our neighbors, North Macedonia and Serbia, we can extend this cooperation even further. I therefore thank all participants. Our countries will continue to cooperate intensively, because this is for the benefit of our citizens, which is precisely our basic duty”.
