Economy Minister Kavarić presents Montenegro's energy projects before Energy Community

Belgrade, Serbia (25 October 2013) -- "Montenegro is making intensive efforts to harmonise its national legislation related to energy with the one of the EU," Montenegro’s Economy Minister Vladimir Kavarić said at the 11th Energy Community Ministerial Council meeting, which took place in Belgrade on Thursday. 

Minister Kavarić underlined that Montenegro's most important activities are related to drafting a new law on energy, which will ensure full compliance with all relevant EU directives in that area and eliminate possible ambiguities that hampered the enforcement of the existing Energy Law.

"Energy Efficiency Bill has been drafted and it will be aligned with the relevant EU directives relating to the efficient use of energy. Drafting the Energy Development Strategy of Montenegro until 2030, a key strategic document which will define the paths of development of the energy sector in the future, is also underway,” he explained.

Taking into account Montenegro’s development commitments, activities regarding a wide range of projects are being carried out.

"The Government has issued a tender for exploration and production of oil and gas in the Montenegrin coast. In addition, the choice of the TAP for transporting gas from Azerbaijan is a good news for Montenegro and the region, as it creates one of the basic prerequisites for implementing the IAP pipeline, which is to make interconnections with the TAP gas pipeline in Albania. By implementing the TAP and IAP pipelines, Montenegro will gain access to gas as an environmentally friendly and cheaper source of energy," the Montenegrin Economy Minister highlighted.

“The current project of the second block of the Thermal Power Plant Pljevlja arouses great interest among investors, and the deadline for submitting bids is 31 October, " Minister Kavarić pointed out, adding the tender for eight small streams is underway as well.

The project of interconnection cable with Italy is particularly attractive for investments. In addition, a treaty on setting up a regional auction house to conduct coordinated auctions for the allocation of power transmission capacity for the region, based in Montenegro, was signed last year, the Economy Minister said.

"It can be argued that the Coordinated Auction House for South East Europe, based in Podgorica, is the first successful regional project. Many issues have been resolved, the foundation that will significantly contribute to the opening and promoting markets, trade and the region as well, was set. The Auction House is certain to be founded in 2014, as an expression of regional power transmission companies’ willingness to boost cross-border cooperation. The project has been supported by the Secretariat of the Energy Community and the European Commission, as well as by the Government of Montenegro, which has provided a very favourable tax treatment of the future auction house. The project has also received generous financial support from international financial institutions," Minister Kavarić concluded.