Romania and Bulgaria are very good partners and should continue their cooperation, especially in the energy field and will have to help other countries to reduce their dependency on Russian gas, said Aurelia Domnițeanu, Minister Counsellor with the Embassy of Romania to the Republic of Bulgaria, at the conference “Regional Approach Sofia”, organized by Energynomics.
”This year in February the two countries decided to raise the level of their relationship to the level of strategic partnership. So this cooperation should and will continue, especially in the field of energy, both bilaterally and in regional, European, and international contexts, to ensure energy security and to help the other EU member states, but not only EU member states, but also third countries”, she added.
The energy map of the continent is being redrawn as we speak so both Romania and Bulgaria will have to help the Republic of Moldavia, Ukraine, and North Macedonia to reduce their dependency on Russian gas.
Earlier this year, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Azerbaijan signed a Memorandum of Understanding for promoting cooperation between the TSOs of the above-mentioned countries. According to Domnițeanu, this document is an initiative meant to ensure the energy security of those countries and to facilitate the flow of gas in Central and Southeastern Europe.
”Solidarity and cooperation are the keys, and I think both Romania and Bulgaria understand that”, she continued.
Domnițeanu highlighted that Romania is one of the least dependent countries in terms of energy imports, Russia included, and also it’s very well placed in terms of the energy mix and the possibility to open new production facilities. Also, Romania plans to phase out coal in 2032 and use natural gas as a transition fuel. This plan is based on the perspective that in 2026 Romania will start to get new offshore gas from the Black Sea.
The conference “Regional Approach Sofia” was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners: Eaton Electric, Finder, Kawasaki Gas Turbine Europe.