Serbia signs joint statement on secure gas supply in Europe at US initiative

Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic participated in the Transatlantic Gas Security Summit in Washington D.C., where she signed a joint statement in which the signatory countries agree to work on improving the resilience of the natural gas market and ensuring a secure and affordable natural gas supply in Eastern and Central Europe, the Government of Serbia announced.

Djedovic Handanovic said that Serbia supported the US initiative aimed at strengthening the resilience of the natural gas market and achieving the regional goal of security of gas supply, as well as developing and strengthening relations between Europe and the United States in the energy sector within the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC).

She explained that the signatory countries agreed in a joint statement to work on ensuring a secure and affordable supply of natural gas, using existing infrastructure and, if necessary, building new ones, in order to increase gas deliveries and achieve regional energy goals.

– We discussed measures we can take in order to make gas supply reliable, such as the harmonization of gas exchange markets, investments, construction of new gas infrastructure and long-term stability of natural gas trade – the minister said.

According to her, this does not mean a complete shift to only one supplier, but rather increasing energy security.

The Minister reminded that during the gas price and supply crisis that hit Europe due to the war in Ukraine, Serbia was regularly supplied with this energy source at favorable prices, and that work is being done to diversify gas supply sources and routes in order to create alternative routes in the event of disruptions.

– By building gas interconnections to North Macedonia and Romania in the next two years, along with the existing Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnection, we will have the capacity to transmit around four billion cubic meters of gas per year – Djedovic Handanovic noted.

With this infrastructure, as she pointed out, we gain access to new gas markets as well as new sources and new supply routes.

– The joint statement was also signed by our neighbors – Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and we agreed to consult regularly in order to achieve goals and provide alternatives in the event of new disruptions or uncertainties – the minister concluded.

The Transatlantic Gas Security Summit was organized by the US National Council for Energy Dominance, and in addition to United States Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, the joint statement was also signed by the ministers of energy and representatives of Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Moldova, Ukraine, Croatia, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United States of America.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Dubravka Đedović Handanović

statement on secure gas supply in Europe