“Today is an exciting day. We send a political message by signing memorandum of understanding, we are ready for opening of new corridor for import of natural gas to Europe by partnering with Azerbaijan,” Slovakia's economy minister Karel Hirman said this at the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding on the development of cooperation between Bulgaria's Bulgartransgas, Romania's Transgas, Hungary's FGSZ, Slovakia's Eustream and Azerbaijan State Oil Company (SOCAR), Ednews reports.
“We faced challenges in the field of the security of gas supply, at the same time, we witnessed a serious increase in prices. Especially, Central and Eastern Europe, which are dependent on Russian gas, experienced serious difficulties. Slovakia was one of the initiators regarding the establishment of transmission system operators. We have also supported the development of the relevant structure for additional supply from Azerbaijan. I support the initiative to create a new corridor with the establishment of new transmission system operators for Azerbaijani gas to reach Eastern Europe within the framework of cooperation with SOCAR. This initiative has great potential for security of gas supply in our region. We have already started the process by signing the Memorandum of Understanding. We support the efforts in this field both in political and financial terms. We open a new page in our cooperation with Azerbaijan in the gas market,” the minister stressed.