BRUSSELS/SARAJEVO – Implementation of the Treaty Establishing the Energy Community for South Eastern Europe was the topic of the meeting of the EC Ministerial Council held in Brussels today.

The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) supports the Treaty implementation. The organization’s Secretary General Hido Biscevic highlighted its importance for South Eastern Europe (SEE).

“The RCC pays special attention to the development of energy sector in the region, as a condition for a faster social and economic development”, said Biscevic. “In this respect, our plan is to intensify relations with the European Commission, the Energy Community Secretariat and the countries of Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP).”

The Ministerial Council reaffirmed a need for an efficient and sustainable implementation of the Treaty, improved security of energy supply, further consideration for expansion of the Treaty scope to oil dimension, as well as maintenance of regional approach to solving growing energy challenges in SEE.

The meeting assessed positively the Energy Community Secretariat’s report, presented by the Director Slavtcho Neykov, who commended implementation of the Treaty and pointed to a progress made in this respect by each contracting party.

The European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs stressed the progress made by the Treaty contracting parties towards EU accession and pointed to the importance of improving energy efficiency especially in view of global trends of increased oil and gas prices.

The meeting discussed ways to improve energy efficiency and security of energy supply, as well as participation of new countries – Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine – in the Treaty. The European Commission’s package on energy and climate changes, focusing on renewable energy sources, was also presented to the participants.

The participants included Ministers of Energy of the Treaty contracting parties or their authorised representatives, the European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs, the Deputy Director General for Transport and Energy of the European Commission Fabrizio Barbasso, representatives of the Slovenian EU Presidency, participants in the Treaty from EU member States, representatives of observer countries, bilateral donors, and officials of the World Bank and USAID.

The RCC was represented by Secretary General Biscevic and the Head of the RCC Secretariat’s Infrastructure and Energy Unit Miroslav Kukobat.

The EC Treaty contracting parties include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) on behalf of Kosovo in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244.