The reduction of the dependence on the Russian Federation can be achieved faster if we hasten the completion of the interconnection projects, the Romanian Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, wrote on Facebook.

He attended the Energy Transition Dialogue conference in Berlin, in the panel “Energy Transition and Energy Security – Twins or Opposites?”

“We had a fruitful dialogue with Luigi di Maio – Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy, Benoit Revaz – Secretary of State Federal Office of Energy – Switzerland, Prof Dorte Fouquet – Director of the European Renewable Energy Federation and Rina Bohle Zeller – Specialist of Vestas. The discussion focused on solutions to the energy market caused by Russia ‘s war against Ukraine,” said Popescu.

At the moment, our goal is to turn challenges into opportunities through collaboration, and in order to reduce our dependence on the Russian Federation, we must speed up the completion of interconnection projects, he said, according to Agerpres.

“We have managed to mobilize and make the transition of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the European energy system within 10 days, and now we need to speed up gas interconnectivity. And that means we will be able to diversify our sources of supply from the United States, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and other states. We conveyed that in the decarbonization process we also rely on nuclear energy, and our intention is to promote an integrated vision in terms of investments, so that development reaches all segments: production, transport, distribution,” the Minister of Energy also said.

Although we already have 60% of our low-carbon electricity production, Romania wants more, so we will make massive investments in renewable energy production units, Popescu said.

“In the short term, we will work together to use LNG and NG from countries that do not use energy as a blackmail weapon, as Russia has done. But we must work together, in partnership with the United States and other democratic states, to increase our energy security. Working together, I am confident that we will find opportunities for each of us,” he said.