Presidents Radev and Vucic inaugurated the new construction stage of the Bulgaria-Serbia gas pipeline (summary)

The construction of the gas connection between Bulgaria and Serbia on Bulgarian territory has started. The symbolic welding was attended by the Presidents of the two countries - Rumen Radev and Aleksandar Vucic.

The new gas link will connect the towns of Novi Iskar and Nis and will provide the countries with another avenue to diversify their sources of blue fuel.

Construction started near the village of Golyanovtsi, 16 kilometres away from Sofia. It was at this place that the first welding of the new gas pipeline between Bulgaria and Serbia was made around noon. Its total length is 170 km, 62 of them on Bulgarian territory. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 1 last year in Serbia.

"The gas connections in our region are not just infrastructure projects - they open opportunities for us, they are an expression of the increased possibilities, they are a symbol and a pledge of our region's potential for future development," President Rumen Radev said.

"I am happy when friends, such as Serbia and Bulgaria, can together implement big and important things like this interconnector. I would like to thank President Radev and Bulgaria for their friendship towards Serbia and to say that in the person of Serbia they have a good and reliable friend in difficult times, not only in good times," his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic said.

The cost of the project on Bulgarian territory is more than 76 million euros, with 27 million provided by the European Union. A congratulatory video address was given by the EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.

"Bulgaria has shown itself as a reliable transit country, even in the most difficult situation when we were left without Russian gas supplies, we continued to reliably supply this gas to Serbia through our territory," Rumen Radev said.

Bulgaria supplies Russian gas to Serbia and Hungary through the Balkan Stream pipeline, which is an extension of the Turkish Stream pipeline in our country. Bulgartransgaz ruled out the possibility of Russian fuel coming back to Bulgaria via the new pipeline.

"Deliveries of Russian gas through Serbia are completely impossible for me. The interconnector that is being built is two-way. It will enable Bulgaria to have access to Central European markets and provide better prices and diversification of sources," said Vladimir Malinov, CEO of Bulgartransgaz.

The total capacity of the pipeline is 1.8 billion cubic metres and it will be Bulgaria's most direct route to Europe's largest gas exchange - the one near the Austrian town of Baumgarten. For its part, Serbia will have access to the LNG terminals of Greece and Turkey.

"Bulgaria is at a crossroads - this includes gas supplies. This is a strategic advantage, but also a big responsibility and Bulgaria takes this responsibility to be a guarantor in the energy sector," said caretaker Energy Minister Rosen Hristov.

The new gas pipeline is expected to be completed by early October and the first quantities of blue fuel will be directed to Serbia by the end of the year. The pipeline's capacity has not yet been booked in either direction.

"Thank you for your support, thank you also for your help - you from the European Union. We know how to appreciate when someone sets aside funds for the citizens of Serbia and we thank you very much for that," President Aleksandar Vucic said.