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Gunther Oettinger: Interconnection projects between Romania and R. Moldova are of key importance to entire region
The projects of energy interconnection between Romania and the Republic of Moldova and mainly the gas interconnector between Ungheni and Iasi are of key importance to the entire region, European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger said told a conference organised by the Romanian Energy Centre in Brussels, on Wednesday.
'To us, this project means more than gas, it is a strategic asset in ensuring the diversification of sources and the supply security for the entire region. This is why it is highly important to become operational maybe by the end of this year,' the European high official said.
He pointed out that the latest evolutions in the Republic of Moldova were of much concern to Brussels, but mentioned he hoped this would not need the revision of the European Commission's support for making the interconnection.
The procurement procedures for the construction works on the two sectors of the interconnection have already begun in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
The joint statement concerning the bilateral cooperation in the area of energy security, which included the completion of the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline and of the high-power electric grids Suceava-Balti and Iasi-Ungheni, was signed in July 2012, on the occasion of a visit of Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta to Chisinau. The authorities of Bucharest and Chisinau planned to make functional the Iasi-Ungheni gas interconnection by the end of this year.