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President launches Balkan Stream pipeline in Serbia

The ceremony also involved Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko

© ROBERT GHEMENT/EPA

BELGRADE, January 1. /TASS/. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has launched the Serbian section of the Balkan Stream pipeline (an extension of the TurkStream pipeline) in the Gospodjinci settlement near the city of Novi Said. The launch ceremony was broadcast live by the Tanjug news agency on Friday.

The ceremony also involved Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko and Director General of the Srbijagas gas company Dusan Bajatovic, as well as representatives of the Russian companies that built the pipeline. Vucic thanked the pipeline builders for their efforts.

"The gas pipeline will create conditions for an inflow of investors to Serbian regions. We have a lot to do to develop the secondary network but this is encouraging," the Serbian president pointed out.

"This is the best New Year’s gift, we have completed a major joint project, which will ensure Serbia’s stability and boost the development of domestic infrastructure and transport systems. Serbia will become even more attractive for investors as a transit country that offers more opportunities," the Russian ambassador said.

The Serbian section of the Balkan Stream gas pipeline is an extension of one of the two strings of the TurkStream pipeline, designed to deliver Russian gas to Turkey and then to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. The sector is 403 kilometer long and its design capacity is 13.9 bln cubic meters of gas per year.

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