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Sofia Energy Summit kicks off

24 April 2009 08:24 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov â€“ APA-Economics. Bulgaria’s Sofia is hosting the world energy summit entitled "Natural Gas for Europe: Security and Partnership" on April 24-25.

The summit brings together gas suppliers from the Caspian region, Central Asia and the Middle East, and transit countries and gas consumers from the Balkans and the EU.

Several Balkan government leaders and heads of state, as well as delegations and special envoys from France, Austria, Germany, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are attending the two-day summit

The goal of the summit is to engage EU’s major energy partners in a dialogue on the EU energy security approach. Accordingly, EU member states will become aware of the political will of producers and transit countries to satisfy their interests in line with the proposed new EU Energy Security and Solidarity Action Plan.

Azerbaijanâ€™s Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev led a delegation to Sofia to attend the event, said the ministry.

Bulgaria, which is almost totally dependent on Russia for its gas deliveries, was among the hardest hit by the Russia-Ukraine gas row and subsequent cut in deliveries in January.
In a move to diversify its energy sources and routes, Bulgaria declared its support for both the EU’s flagship Nabucco project to bring Caspian gas to Europe while bypassing Russia, and for the Moscow-backed South Stream pipeline pumping Russian gas to Europe under the Black Sea.
But while Brussels and Moscow have been competing to sign up enough gas suppliers to back their respective projects, the two pipelines have been severely sidetracked by financial difficulties.
Sofia has also stood up against a Russian plan to cut South Stream costs by using Bulgaria’s existing pipeline network, which already channels Russian gas to neighbouring Greece, Macedonia and Turkey.
It was this decision by Sofia that prompted Putin to boycott the summit, AFP said, citing Bulgarian government.