Skopje, 18 July 2024 (MIA) — Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, in his remarks at the 4th summit of the European Political Community taking place in the UK, discussed energy as an important issue in the context of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, the government said in a press release.

"Talking about energy in politics is one thing, but talking about implementing energy projects from a technical point of view is another matter altogether," PM Mickoski said.

"Implementing energy projects takes time. You cannot just imagine something and immediately implement it. You have to make a plan, do your homework, and then it takes a decade to implement it," he said.

He pointed out that regional cooperation was necessary "because all the regional countries and Europe need to find an alternative to Russian gas and its misuse for political influence."

"We need to consolidate our plans and work together," he noted. "Regardless of whether we are EU members or candidates for membership, we need to work together because we are all connected."

"We are a small country. We are not a big energy consumer, but we play a significant role because all transit contracts across Ukraine expire by the end of the year. The only solution will remain the South Stream and Turkish Stream, which means Russian gas and Russia will use that for political influence. That is why we have to find a way to replace Russian gas with other sources," the prime minister said.

According to the press release, "Mickoski noted that Macedonia is working rapidly in the field of energy, woring on the construction of interconnectors, toward the goal of the country playing an important role in the future transit of Azerbaijani, Qatari, American or other gas sources to Europe."

"We can be a significant transit factor. We are accelerating the construction of an interconnector with Greece and will soon start building an interconnector with Serbia," Mickoski told the EPC summit.

"This would provide Central European countries with better access to Azerbaijani, Qatari, Kazakh and US gas. Transit through my country benefits Europe," he said.

"To this aim, we have a new department in the government: a Ministry of Energy, Mining and Minerals, which will be responsible for this matter because we want to be a significant player in this field," Mickoski said. mr/