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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Gas interconnector Serbia-Bulgaria for greater energy security

Belgrade, 20 May 2021

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic attended today the signing of the Agreement on the loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the project of construction of gas interconnector Serbia-Bulgaria in the length of 170 kilometres through both states.

Mihajlovic said that the signing of this agreement means for Serbia the realisation of the project worth €160 million.

She expressed gratitude to the European Union (EU) and the EIB on support and excellent cooperation.

Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali pointed out that this is one of the six priority projects defined by the EU when it comes to the energy connection of Central and Southeast Europe.

This project is part of the big investment plan "Serbia 2020-2025" and is also important for ecology, because natural gas is a better source of energy than boiler rooms and fuel oil, and as a construction project it will contribute to the growth of our economy and GDP, Mali underlined.

Speaking about the way of financing the project, the Minister said that its total value, according to the estimate of the EIB, will amount to €85.5 million.

Through the EIB, we provide €25 million, €49.6 million are grants through IPA funds from the EU and the rest is provided by the government of Serbia. The length of this gas pipeline on the territory of the Republic of Serbia will be 109 kilometers, and the total capacity is 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas, he pointed out.

Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Sem Fabrizi welcomed this project as a key part of Serbia's broader strategy for completing the ongoing liberalisation of the gas sector, an important commitment to Serbia's further progress in EU accession negotiations.

EIB Vice President Liliana Pavlova pointed out that the bank supports the energy transition in Serbia and around the world.

As part of the EIB's lending policy for energy, agreed in 2019, we have committed ourselves to supporting several selected gas projects that are already in the evaluation phase, before we move on to lending, only from renewable sources from the end of 2021.

With this investment we confirm the importance of support to energy transition in Serbia and the whole region, Pavlova stated.