Thanks to its geographical position and its natural and human resources, Croatia could play a major role in securing energy supplies in its neighbourhood, Devlin said, adding that Italy was the largest seasonal importer of electric power, in periods when energy consumption reaches its maximum.
If HEP splits into production and distribution, you could have a strong system that could meet peak demand in the Mediterranean, he said.
Devlin said that the question now was whether Croatia would become a Switzerland of the Western Balkans and secure electricity supply for its neighbours.
Croatian representative Kresimir Cosic said that Croatia was doing all it could to ensure that, through the process of transformation and restructuring and through new investments, the HEP became an instrument of regional importance rather than an institution defending the domestic market.
In his presentation, Cosic also highlighted the importance of the recently signed memorandum of understanding for the PEOP (Pan-European Oil Pipeline) project, which provides for the transport of Caspian oil to European markets through a 1,856 km long pipeline running through Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. The Croatian section of the pipeline is 435 km long.
PEOP is an important and promising project and everything should be done to ensure its completion as soon as possible, Cosic said.