Mali: Serbia to discuss building new gas-fired power plant with Azerbaijan

BAKU - Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said on Wednesday in Baku investing in the energy sector was an absolute priority for Serbia and that Azerbaijan was a potential partner, and announced that the two countries would discuss building a new gas-fired power plant in Serbia.

Amid the great global uncertainty, it is important to have friends you can rely on when it comes to gas and electricity supplies, Mali told Tanjug.

"Azerbaijan is a potential partner for Serbia when it comes to both types of energy," Mali said, noting that the visit to Azerbaijan was very important and that his meetings with the country's ministers of economy and energy had been good and constructive.

"We discussed Serbia becoming a part of the southern gas corridor, which is very important for us and which needs to diversify the way gas is supplied to our country. We discussed building a new gas-fired power plant in Serbia as part of boosting the capacities of our energy system, and that will be the subject of discussions in the weeks to come," Mali said.

He said an undersea cable that would supply power from Azerbaijan to Romania and Hungary was an important matter.

He said many investors in Serbia wanted to use energy generated from renewable sources and that, for that reason, the issue had become "a part of the package discussed in Azerbaijan."

Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic said Serbia could count on meeting one third of its annual gas needs with Azerbaijani gas.

Along with potential construction of new gas facilities, that would mean additional security and independence when it comes to electricity generation, Djedovic said after meetings with Azerbaijan's Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov and Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov.