Speaking to reporters at the second meeting of the Central East South Europe Gas Connectivity (CESEC) High Level Group, Grabar-Kitarovic said that Croatia's geopolitical position was good, as was its infrastructure that needed to be upgraded and connected to other energy routes.
She said that there were security threats in eastern Europe today that could not only increase prices of energy sources but also stop their delivery.
"It is exceptionally important to step up cooperation in the area of energy, we all depend on energy sources that come from somewhere else, especially now that there are such security threats in eastern Europe that can not only increase prices of energy products but prevent their delivery. It is very important to speak about different sources of energy. Our geopolitical position is good because we have good infrastructure that needs to be upgraded and connected to other energy routes.
"I am referring here to the Adriatic-Ionian gas pipeline whose construction I believe should be expedited, and alternative solutions should also be considered, for example, a floating LNG terminal," said Grabar-Kitarovic, adding that Croatia should cooperate much more with Baltic countries which she said shared "our values and are in associations like NATO or the EU."
Asked if a floating LNG terminal was realistic, Grabar-Kitarovic said that it was a possibility that should be considered.
"I am not an expert on LNG terminals, but I recently talked to the Lithuanian president. They have a floating terminal, it was built very quickly and they have no environmental problems. The best thing about it is that 30% of workers who built it are Croatians. We even have people who could build such a terminal and we have interested investors as well. It would result in a decrease in energy prices both for households and for the industry," said Grabar-Kitarovic.
During the Dubrovnik meeting, a memorandum of understanding will be signed on a joint approach to challenges of diversification and security of gas supply as part of the initiative of CESEC countries to connect their gas supply systems. An action plan accompanying the memorandum will be signed as well. The purpose of the memorandum is to expedite the implementation of the most important energy projects as part of the CESEC initiative.
The meeting in Dubrovnik is being held at the invitation of the European Commission Vice-President in charge of energy union, Maros Sefcovic, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete, and Croatian Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak.
It has brought together energy ministers from the EU countries Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia and from the Southeast European countries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Moldova and Ukraine.