MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Greece should develop bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, the deputy economic and finance minister of Greece said Tuesday.
Speaking a day before a Moscow Russian-Greek business forum, Christos Folias said: "At any rate, in the next few years we must step up cooperation, including on energy infrastructure in the Black Sea region."
The deputy minister said Greece was "aware of Russia's interest in natural gas projects in southeastern Europe, and its interest in unifying the energy transportation networks of Eastern and Western Europe."
Folias said Greece was seeking the early establishment of a company that could construct and operate an oil pipeline connecting the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas and Greece's Aegian Sea port of Alexandropoulos.
In April Russia, Greece and Bulgaria signed a memorandum on the construction of the 800-million euro Burgas-Alexandropoulos oil pipeline. It should run for 280 kilometers and will initially have an annual throughput capacity of 35 million metric tons, though this could be extended to 50 million tons.
