Romania supports the Vertical Energy Corridor as a sustainable pillar of European energy security, and the immediate priority is to consolidate the main natural gas transport route from Greece to Romania via Bulgaria, said Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare, who is participating in the sixth Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC) Forum in Athens.
"The first day at P-TEC - Partnership for Transatlantic Economic Cooperation, an event dedicated to strengthening economic cooperation between Europe and the United States, organized in Athens. The talks focused on strategic investments, energy transition and the new fiscal policies necessary to support sustainable economic growth in a global context," the Finance minister wrote on Facebook on Thursday, agerpres reports.
He met with US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, with whom he discussed the Vertical Energy Corridor initiative - a strategic project Romania has been supporting since 2016.
"I emphasized that Romania supports the Vertical Corridor as a sustainable pillar of European energy security. Our immediate priority is the consolidation of Route 1 (the main natural gas transport route from Greece to Romania, through Bulgaria - the basic component of the Vertical Corridor), which has proven its technical feasibility and commercial competitiveness, including by reducing tariffs at the interconnection points with the Republic of Moldova," Nazare stated.
The discussions also approached the subject of expanding routes 2 and 3 (complementary routes aimed at diversifying energy flows - Route 2 linking Romania to the energy infrastructure of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, and Route 3 aiming to expand energy connections to the Black Sea and the Caspian region), in a well-calibrated framework, based on European grants and transatlantic financial instruments, which would combine efficiency with fiscal responsibility, the Finance minister also specified.
"In this context, we launched the idea of organizing an event of a similar scope in Bucharest, where to develop the themes of today's dialogue. From the perspective of the Ministry of Finance, Romania remains committed to a balanced approach - a strategic commitment anchored in fiscal responsibility, with an emphasis on the efficient use of European funds and cooperation with American financial institutions," Nazare said.
The Finance Minister also met on Thursday with Jarrod Agen, Executive Director of the White House's National Energy Dominance Council, with whom he continued the discussions started in Washington last month, about the Romanian-American partnership in the energy field.
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