Athens, 9 September 2022 (MIA) – The market testing of the interconnector with Greece will be completed on Monday, paving the way for all the other activities and we hope that the construction contract will be signed by the end of the year, so that gas can be supplied from Greece by mid-2024 at the latest, said Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Naser Nuredini at the Southeast Europe Energy Forum 2022 in Thessaloniki, MIA’s Athens correspondent reports. At a panel discussion on energy cooperation, Nuredini stated that North Macedonia wants to achieve gas independence, and it aims to be completely independent from Russian gas by 2024 at the latest, which is why it is working on the interconnector with Greece and investing in the LNG terminal in Alexandroupoli. Given that the forum is being held at the same time as the EU energy ministers meeting, Nuredini agreed with the Albanian minister that Western Balkan representatives should have been in Brussels, and he expressed hope that the colleagues from the Union will not abandon the region, at the same time he expressed the need for a regional strategy and cooperation. “I believe regional cooperation is the only way forward,” said the Minister. Nuredini added that strong bonds are being forged with the country’s neighbors, as was the case during the pandemic, and pointed out that mutual help and support are important, especially ahead of the difficult winter. “We need to inform our citizens that this will be a difficult winter. We already knew this. When European ministers tell their citizens to dress warmly for the winter, we will have to do the same. We will all have to be together, to show solidarity with each other,” said Nuredini. He touched upon the decoupling of gas and electricity prices, something which he said should have been done sooner. “What we are trying to do is find a way to decouple ourselves from that as well. Because what we are doing now is paying 600 euro for something that could potentially be produced in our country or region, and we are paying an extra cost. We want and we hope that Brussels will adopt a methodology that could be implemented and used in North Macedonia,” said Nuredini. He explained that small and mid-sized enterprises in the country cannot pay the centrally dictated prices, because very soon, due to the high prices, they will have to close. Regarding North Macedonia’s activities, he singled out the construction of the Chebrene hydroelectric power plant, and expressed hope that this time the construction will be completed successfully considering there have been 13 failed attempts already. Besides Minister Nuredini, Albania’s Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Kosovo’s Economy Minister and the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy participated in the panel discussion on regional energy security as well, while the Greek Minister of Environment and Energy and Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy sent video messages. The forum is being organized by the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and the Hellenic Association for Energy Economics in cooperation with the US Embassy in Greece in strategic partnership with the Atlantic Council and the Global Energy Institute at the US Chamber of Commerce. As is the case every year, the forum is held a day ahead of the official opening of the Thessaloniki International Fair. ad/ba/