Brussels, Belgium – Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs attended 28 September 2007, in Athens, a high level conference on Investments for the Energy community. The conference is organised by the Energy community secretariat, based in Vienna, in cooperation with the European Commission.

‘’Legal stability and investments in energy infrastructure are key factors to ensure security of supply to all consumers within the Energy Community. This conference is an important milestone in the process of attracting new, private investments. I invite all participants work hard so that the next Energy Community Ministerial Council meeting in December in Belgrade can endorse a short list of priority projects. The Commission will continue to support this process,’’ said Commissioner Piebalgs.

By holding this dialogue between the ministers and high level representatives of the Contracting Parties to the Treaty, on the one side, and investors, international financial organisations on the other side, the Energy community pursues its efforts to promote economic development and social stability in South East Europe.

Energy Community represents an extension of the EU’s internal energy market to South East Europe, since its members apply the same regulatory and legal requirements as within the EU. As a first step, legal stability was created in the region, and now, one year after the entry into force of the Energy Community Treaty, the focus is being made on investments’ attraction through the dialogue with investors and financial institutions.