In the meeting with the German investor, the Committee members spoke with Mirko Krück, Managing Director of LEEN Gmbh – (Learning Energy Efficiency Network).

The Chairperson of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy and of the Serbian Parliamentary Energy Policy Forum Prof. Dr Aleksandra Tomic informed the guest about the Committee’s scope of duties, as well as the establishment and activities of the Serbian Parliamentary Energy Policy Forum.

Mirko Krück presented the LEEN project which, he claims, could greatly contribute to energy conservation and a more efficient energy policy. Krück stated that the implementation of LEEN in Germany has led to about 37% of energy saving. He asked the parliamentarians to help create the conditions suitable for the establishment of LEEN which could in the first stage connect 10 local self-governments. They would be provided with training, offered best practice examples and finally, after a monitoring stage, be presented the results of the applied platform.

The meeting was also attended by the Chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee Dr Branislav Blazic, who spoke about the importance of improving the production of biomass for which, he stressed, Serbia has a large potential.

Prof. Dr Aleksandra Tomic asked the representatives of the German company to forward their platform in writing to the members of the parliamentary committees and the Serbian Parliamentary Energy Policy Forum so that they could agree on further steps and set up meetings which would include the relevant ministry and representatives of the local self-governments.

The meeting with the Italian investors focused on the potential for boosting economic cooperation between Serbia and Italy, especially in the field of energy. The participants agreed that the country’s legislative stability is very important for future projects and the creation of a favourable climate for the investors. Prof. Dr Aleksandra Tomic said that the Serbian Government is doing all in its power to ensure a favourable climate for investors, while Dr Branislav Blazic added that there has been notable progress since 2012.

The delegation of Italian investors included Edoardo Garrone, Chairman and owner of ERG S.p.A. Group, leading Italian oil and wind-power company, Erich Cossutta, President of Confindustria Serbia, as well as Confindustria Serbia vice-presidents Luciano Scipione, Franco Delneri and Antonio Schiro. The representatives of Confindustria said that their organisation gathers about 150,000 leading companies mainly in the sphere of energy production, and opined that both sides are willing and eager to continue with the energy cooperation in the future.

The meeting was also attended by Jelena Simovic, Assistant Minister of Mining and Energy, Sector for European Integration, International Cooperation and Project Management, who informed the guests about the Ministry’s work and activities.