Government of Norway invested 15m EUR in development of power supply system in Serbia - another 600,000 EUR by the end of year 2007

(Novi Pazar)

- Government of Kingdom of Norway has, so far, invested 15m EUR in development of power supply system in Serbia, through donations and goods, and it donates additional 10m EUR to Serbia every year - said the State Secretary in the Ministry of Mining and Energy Đorđe Mihajlović.

At the celebration occasioned by putting into operation Novi Pazar-based substation "Bolnica 2", of which construction was financed by Norway, he said that that country would invest additional 600,000 EUR in the energy system of Serbia by the end of the year.

Manager of the Directorate for Distribution of Electric Energy of the Electric Power Company of Serbia, Radovan Stanić, said that Norway financed construction of 14 substations worth 1.3m EUR in multiethnical municipalities in the southwest of Serbia since 2000, and he said that additional 1m EUR would be invested in the third phase.

The Ambassador of Norway to Belgrade, Hokon Blakenburg, pointed out that cooperation between that country and Serbia had started in the 1990's through program "Energy for Democracy" and that that cooperation had grown into partnership for work on joint projects. According to his words, 19 small Norwegian companies currently operate in Serbian municipalities in Kosmet.