site.btaBulgaria, Serbia and Hungary Vow to Cooperate in Natural Gas Supply

Belgrade, June 13 (BTA) - Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary will work for the region's energy security by developing their cooperation in natural gas supply. The pledge was made during a meeting in Belgrade between Bulgaria's Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova, Serbia's Energy and Mining Minister Aleksandar Antic and Hungary's Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto, Petkova's department reported on Wednesday.

The talks focused on the construction of a natural gas interconnector between Bulgaria and Serbia. This follows a May 17 joint declaration to step up the project, signed during an EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia. Bulgaria declared its intention to designate, with the European Commission's consent, Bulgartransgaz as organizer of the project and operator of the Bulgarian part of the future gas pipeline. Also in May, a procedure was launched with the aim to obtain a construction permit. The planned budget is 6 million euro.

Petkova and Antic agreed that everything will be done to ensure that the Bulgaria-Serbia Gas Interconnector becomes operational by 2022.