The Tripartite Memorandum for cooperation between the governments of Bulgaria, Russia and Greece in the Construction of Oil Pipeline Burgas-Alexandroupolis is to be signed today. The tripartite memorandum will be signed by the MRDPW Minister Valentin Tserovski, the Greek Minister of Development Dimitris Sioufas and the Russian Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko.
Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the Greek Ambassador to Bulgaria His Excellency Prokopios Mantzouranis and the Russian Ambassador His Excellency Anatoly Potapov are among the guests attending the ceremony.
The signing of the tripartite memorandum will conclude the negotiations that started more than 10 years ago. This achievement comes as a result of the consistent and active policy pursued by the government in the last two years. The Bulgarian side has introduced so far three clear principles underlying the project– economic efficiency, market realization and project financing, the government’s spokesperson said.
The successful event can be defined as historic for the future cooperation in the energy sector between Bulgaria, Greece and the Russian Federation. The construction of the pipeline will propel the geostrategic partnership between the three countries as the project is of regional European significance. Bulgaria, Greece and Russia are becoming important factors in the world energy map.
The tripartite memorandum is the second document of such significance to be signed in the last three months. On 28 December 2004, a Tripartite Memorandum for Understanding in support of the TransBalkan Pipeline Bourgas-Vlore was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg and his Albanian and Macedonian counterparts, Fatos Nano and Vlado Buckovski respectively.
In November 2004, the Council of Ministers approved a draft Memorandum on cooperation with the governments of the Russian Federation and Greece. During the talks, the sides agreed on implementing the project wholly on the basis of private initiative and market principles through attracting big oil companies and investment partnerships.
Oil Pipeline Burgas-Alexandroupolis project dates back to 1993. It includes oil transport from the Caspian Sea through Burgas port to Alexandroupolis, thus facilitating oil tankers traffic through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles straits. The total stretch of the pipeline will be around 300 km. It is expected to carry about 35-50 million tons of oil per year.