The meeting was chaired by Derya Bakbak, member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and the attending were also addressed by representatives of the parliaments of Romania, Montenegro, Albania and Croatia, as well as representatives of Pristina. Chair Bakbak said that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey is ready to take over the chairmanship of SEECP PA in 2020/2021, again nominating Istanbul for the seat of the SEECP PA secretariat. She said that Turkey is ready to continue talks with the other member countries on the matter to come to a consensus as regards the international secretariat. She emphasized the importance of energy supply for Turkey and the need to develop closer cooperation, especially with the Western Balkans. She said it was vital to eliminate trade barriers and foster a steady investment climate for a successful economic cooperation in the SEE region. The attending were also addressed by Turkish Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Abdullah Tancan who spoke about the situation in the energy sector and energy infrastructure in the interest of integrating renewable energy resources in the total energy expenditure.

National Assembly delegation member Marko Parezanovic thanked the host for organizing the meeting, which is an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences and identify projects of common interest. Parezanovic said that the application of energy efficiency measures, use of renewable energy sources, environmental protection and reduction of climate change impact are the key elements of the transition to sustainable energy of Serbia and all the countries in the region. One of Serbia’s three priorities of energy development to 2025 with projections to 2030 is sustainable development which means an increased use of renewable energy sources and achievement of 27% SDG in gross final energy consumption, increase of energy efficiency and environmental protection. He said that in the EU accession process, Serbia’s electro-energy sector will have to face the obligatory CO2 emission costs. As a developing country, the Republic of Serbia still has no international obligation to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases but will most probably be obliged to accept the duty of GHG limitation/reduction with EU accession.

To improve energy efficiency and conform to EU regulations, Serbia passed the Law on Efficient Use of Energy and amended the Law on Planning and Construction, said Parezanovic. The country also passed a series of by-laws, conducting energy efficiency certification of buildings and is also working on introducing energy management system into the public sector and with big consumers, as well as on other related activities. Speaking of the energy network infrastructure and transmission of electric power, the Trans-Balkan Corridor project is of enormous national and regional interest. Its realization will enable the transmission of electric power over big distances with minimal loss, merging of the Eastern and Western Europe market and ensure a secure and stable power supply in Serbia i.e. provide sufficient amounts of electric power of adequate quality.

Parezanovic went on to speak about the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnection – the priority project to connection Serbia’s gas system with the neighbouring countries. The realization of this project will ensure the diversification of supply directions and sources, accompanied by an improved in supply security of Serbia, Bulgaria and region as a whole. The estimated price of the project is 85.5 million EUR and it has been recognized by the Central and South Eastern Europe Energy Connectivity (CESEC) as second on the list of priority projects. Parezanovic said that, globally speaking, countries are working on developing modern technologies and alternative energy sources.

Responding to the allegations of Pristina representative H. Bayrami who, speaking of energy supply in Kosovo-Metohija, accused Serbia of being the chief culprit for the energy supply problems in the four Serb municipalities in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, Parezanovic said that this was neither the time nor the place for political talks and the Republic of Serbia has for decades invested in Trepca and Gazivode which it owns. He said that this is a matter for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in Brussels which has unfortunately been halted due to the discriminatory 100% customs tariffs Pristina imposed on goods from central Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This move that directly jeopardized the human rights of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija is a flagrant violation of CEFTA that has been widely denounced by the international community.

At the end of the meeting, the participants adopted a Resolution and Report, to be presented at the SEECP PA plenary in Sarajevo on 21 – 22 June 2019.