Zorana Mihajlovic, Minister of Energy, Environment and Development said that the agreement with Italy to build power plants will be implemented after a modified list of projects is agreed on. She announced that in the next stage they would talk about the lower prices of electricity that Serbia could get.
The Minister said that a joint task force will travel to Italy in November to harmonize and complete the list of projects, after which the agreement will re-enter parliamentary procedure.
– There are inherited agreements that we have to implement, but we are going to ensure through annexes and a complete list of projects that energy facilities get constructed – Mihajlovic said after a meeting with ministers in charge of Energy of the Republic Srpska and Montenegro, which was also attended by Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic.
When asked, she said that the electricity produced by hydro power plants built in cooperation with Italy, will go to Italy, but that Serbia will be able to use it under certain conditions.
– Agreement can not be changed substantially, but in the second stage when we have the facilities we can discus a possible better price, which is what we will definitely work on – said the Minister.
Mihajlovic said that in the future not a single energy project would be implemented without previous agreement of the governments of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic Srpska and Serbia.
Vladimir Kavarić Minister of Economy of Montenegro, said that energy is a competitive advantage in all three countries, but that these projects can be implemented only with the cooperation of these countries.
Kavarić has announced that a joint task force will be formed from representatives of those countries that will solve all issues regarding joint projects.
Zeljko Kovacevic, Minister of Energy and Mining of the Republic Srpska said that there are no problems with the implementation of projects in the central Drina River, as well as the upper Drina and that RS will not be an obstacle to its realization because its economic development depends on it.
Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said that when it was time to take advantage of shared energy resources in the countries of the region.
He said that the energy is a major development opportunity for Serbia and that only through cooperation between countries in the region these energy resources can be utilized.
Many countries of the world are interested to invest in the power sector in Serbia, such as Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, China and Japan, Dacic said, adding that in recent years there have been many memorandums signed, but not a single energy facility has been built in Serbia for more than two decades.
Source Serbia Energy Magazine
