Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 16
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Romania is interested in the future initiatives of the European Commission, aiming at consolidating the energy security dimension, especially by diversifying the supply routes and sources, Romania's Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu said during the meeting with European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, Romanian newspaper Nine O'Clock reported.
Sefcovic paid an official visit to Romania on October 15, as part of a tour promoting the Energy Union.
During the meeting, Aurescu underlined the potential of Romania's priority energy projects - the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria natural gas transmission corridor, the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI) for liquefied natural gas, the interconnections with the neighbouring states, especially the Republic of Moldova - on a regional and European level.
In this respect, he pleaded for adequate perspectives of EU financing for these projects, according to a media release of Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry.
AGRI is expected to transport liquefied Azeri gas from Georgia, across the Black Sea, to a LNG terminal to be built on the Romanian Black Sea Coast. From that point, the gas will be pumped through Romanian natural gas transmission system to Hungary, through the Interconnector between Romania and Hungary (Arad - Szeghed) to be transported further to the European market.
Sefcovic in turn appreciated Romania's support in drafting and promoting the Energy Union, as "one of the [EU] member states with the most active involvement in this file."
He stressed the importance of Romania's further involvement in the implementation of the goals of this strategy.
Romania is one of the members of Central and South Eastern Europe Gas Connectivity (CESEC), initiated by the European Commission in order to address and advance the different security of gas supply related issues, in particular diversification of gas supply, in the Central European and Southern European region.
The objective of the High Level Group is to establish a regional priority infrastructure roadmap and advance its implementation in order to develop missing infrastructure and improve security of gas supplies. Ultimately each Member State of the region should have access to at least three different sources of gas.