The heads of states from the region said energy cooperation was only one of the areas of cooperation in the region sharing the common strategic goal of Euro-Atlantic integration.
All the participants in the summit initiated by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic were agreed that Southeast Europe is an important intersection of energy routes from manufacturing countries to end buyers.
Connecting energy systems and further investing in the energy infrastructure is important not only for reducing energy deficits in the majority of the region's countries, but is an important political issue as well, it was said at the summit which gathered the presidents of eight countries and representatives of the European Commission, Slovenia and Greece.
Albanian President Alfred Moisiu said the region's development called for additional energy and that Albania and the region needed urgent EU assistance in legislative adjustment as well as funds to provide the economies with energy.
Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency chairman Nebojsa Radmanovic said his country had great untapped potentials in the energy sector, which suffered extensive damage in the 1990s war. He said international investors are very interested as evidenced by the recent agreement between the governments of the Czech Republic and Bosnia's Serb entity on the construction of a thermal power plant, Gacka II, worth EUR 1.4 billion.
Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic said his country was exploiting only 17% of its energy potential, notably water and coal. He said the construction of new power plants was a national priority and announced more than EUR 200 million euros in investments.
Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski said the creation of a regional energy community was a successful example of regional integration as well as an example of Southeast Europe's full integration with the European Union.
If the objective of the Central European Free Trade Agreement was strengthening trade, the energy community's goal should be ensuring energy stability, economic growth and reducing unemployment, said Crvenkovski.