Baku-APA. Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded Slovenia give the South Stream gas pipeline project national priority status on Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
There remains much room for more investment cooperation between the two countries, Lavrov told reporters after talks with his Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec.
Agreeing to Lavrov's call for more bilateral cooperation, Erjavec described Russia as "Slovenia's strategic partner in all perspectives: political, economic, cultural and other fields."
On future Slovenia-Russia cooperation, Erjavec expressed hope that Russian investors would like to get involved when Slovenia is preparing to privatize some state-owned enterprises and banks.
He also noted that the planned South Stream gas pipeline project is one of the most important projects for Slovenia, adding Slovenia will "do everything necessary to realize it."
The South Stream gas pipeline project, valued at around one billion euros (1.31 billion U.S. dollars), is to supply 63 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas to Europe via the Black Sea.
Slovenia and Russia signed an agreement on the South Stream project in November 2012.
The construction of the Slovenian section of the South Stream gas pipeline is due to begin in 2015, and the pipeline is scheduled for launch in 2017.
Following their meeting, Erjavec and Lavrov also signed an agreement on cooperation in culture, science, education and sports, and an agreement on war graves, part of preparation to commemorate thousands of Russian soldiers who lost their lives in Slovenia during the anti-Fascist and Nazis War in 1940s.
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