Today at the National Assembly, in cooperation with the Regional Cooperation Council and support of the Energy Community Secretariat, the Industry Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia held a workshop on “Energy Community and Regional Security”.

The workshop was organised in line with the conclusions of the Regional workshop on “Parliaments – Support to Harmonised Energy Reform in Southeastern Europe” held in Sarajevo, in December 2008, and is the first of many workshops to be held in the national parliaments for the benefit of the deputies, members of committees in charge of energy production issues, representatives of expert services from the Regional Cooperation Council Southeastern Europe member states and wider expert public.

The workshop participants were greeted by Milorad Buha, Chairman of the Industry Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Miroslav Kukobat, head of the Regional Cooperation Council Energy and Infrastructure Unit and Slavtcho Neykov, director of the Energy Community Secretariat.

The workshop participants talked about providing energy security in the region, climatic change and national security, security of shipment of energy agents, market trends, as well as the Energy Security Act as the legal framework for achieving energy efficiency and security.

Following the discussion, the workshop participants concluded that the greatest challenges for the development of the regional energy sector lie in achieving an economic energy price, providing wide social support for the energy sector reform, promoting a regional approach to energy production, investing into the energy sector on a regional level, mutual assistance and solidarity of the countries in the region, as well as fully implementing the Energy Security Act. The workshop participants also agreed that national parliaments should secure political stability for the enforcement of laws and implementation of the abovementioned processes, as well as help promote regional cooperation.