Member countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) need to encourage investments in energy infrastructure and work on further development of gas interconnections, BSEC ministers of energy pointed out in a declaration adopted during a meeting in Belgrade on Wednesday.
BSEC countries need to work on further liberalization of international natural gas trade based on the market principles with a view to ensuring safe supply of the energy source. The declaration backs the market-based energy infrastructure in the region so that mutual connections could be strengthened for the well-being of the BSEC countries through the promotion of projects sustainable in environmental and economic terms.
Considerable attention is also attached to bilateral and multilateral cooperation between BSEC member countries in projects aimed at oil shale research and exploitation, liquid petroleum gas and comprimated natural gas, regasification, gas storage and further development of interconnections of national gas networks. BSEC countries should ensure a stable investment climate, indiscriminate project treatment and fair wages so as to make room for the necessary infrastructural development and promotion of energy efficiency, the declaration states. BSEC was set up during the meeting in Istanbul in 1992 that gathered heads of state and governments of 11 countries from the wider Black Sea region, including Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Greece, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Albania. Serbia became a member of BSEC back in 2004 and currently holds chairmanship over the organization. The aim of the Wednesday meeting in Belgrade was to improve the dialogue and increase the possibilities of cooperation between BSEC member countries in the energy sector, especially with regard to the development of the regional gas infrastructure.
Source AnsaMed
