During the forum a Memorandum of Understanding and Action Plan were signed on the joint approach to face the challenges of diversifying and securing natural gas supplies as part of the CESEC initiative to combine their gas systems.
"In a word, all CESEC member states have agreed that there is no point in planning a hundred projects but the focus should be on several projects significant for this part of Europe. Each country is aware of its responsibilities toward neighbours in the region. National policies are history, regional policies are the future and that is what the European Commission is focused on in Croatia," Croatia's Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak said.
Addressing the energy forum, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete said that effective cooperation between the countries in Southeast Europe is key for an effective energy policy in Europe.
"A number of infrastructure projects, such as the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), LNG terminal in Croatia and evacuation system, system reinforcement in Bulgaria and Romania, interconnectors between Greece and Bulgaria and between Serbia and Bulgaria, have been identified as top priorities in the Action Plan annexed to the Memorandum," Canete said.
EU Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said that a new spirit of cooperation in the region had been established in Dubrovnik. We have demonstrated political will, we have projects and companies to back them and the financial instruments for these, he said.
Responding to reporters who asked Vrdoljak to comment on President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic's idea of a floating LNG terminal rather than constructing one on the island of Krk, he said: "If there is a business model that shows that a floating LNG terminal is faster and cheaper, we are prepared to decide on that when the time comes."
Sefcovic said that the current crisis in Greece would not affect the agreement reached by the CESEC member states on Friday. All the project defined by the Action Plan should be completed by 2020, he said.
The meeting in Dubrovnik brought together the energy ministers from EU members Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia as well as the energy ministers from Southeast European countries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.