During a recent visit to Baku, the Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Đedović, met with senior Azerbaijani government and industry officials to discuss energy cooperation between Serbia and Azerbaijan.
The talks held with the ministers and leading energy companies from this country are important for the implementation of Serbia’s plans to diversify energy supply sources and increase Serbia’s energy independence, Minister Đedović said.
“Serbia and Azerbaijan have a strategic cooperation thanks to the friendly relations of our two presidents. The pillar of that cooperation is energy. I discussed with Minister Shahbazov the quantities of gas that we can deliver from Azerbaijan after the completion of the construction of the Bulgaria-Serbia interconnector next year. In the future, we can expect up to a third of our gas needs to come from Azerbaijan,” Minister Đedović emphasised. “Plans for the construction of a new gas plant in our country were also discussed at the meetings. These are extremely important topics because they enable us to diversify our supply sources and provide a greater degree of energy independence in these uncertain times.”
The Bulgaria-Serbia interconnector is expected to be completed by October 2023.
In addition, the two sides discussed cooperation in the field of electricity and the planned construction of an underwater cable under the Black Sea, which is a joint project between the governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary.
“Azerbaijan will annually deliver significant amounts of electricity to the European Union with that cable,” the Serbian Minister said. “Thanks to the good operation of our hydro capacities and more favourable weather conditions, in December, until now, we have not imported electricity, but it is important to continue with good planning and work on securing additional amounts of energy.”
