Your Royal Highness

Pozdravni nagovor ministra dr. Dimitrija Rupla ob začetku projekta »Energy Training Programme for South East Europe«,

Jable, 18. septembra 2007

Your Royal Highness,

Ministers,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am always delighted to be here at Jable castle; even more so when I see that the Centre for European Perspective, based in this fine building and one of the partners in the Energy Training Programme for South East Europe, is being faithful to its purpose: to assist the countries, aspiring to join the European Union, in their reform efforts.

Although we can not close our eyes before the outstanding political and security issues that still haunt parts of the region, the South East Europe is today far from the brinks of war. Indeed, after the demise of former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, and the troubled years of conflicts and transition, the entire former political Eastern Europe is gaining new grounds.

The region has seen a number of relatively new small countries emerged or simply rebuilt. Many of them have already crowned their success with the entrance into the European Union, others are following, with South East Europe leading the way.

Borders are becoming less important. As with the rest of the developed world, the attention of political leaders and voters in these countries too is turning to the bread and butter issues, with energy as one of the most important among them. It is of utmost importance that energy and climate issues are debated and remain positioned at the top of the political agenda both at global and regional level.

The region of South East Europe is facing many challenges with regard to energy. Some burning issues can be identified as the excessive reliance on one single or few sources of energy supply, a severe lack of interconnection, insufficient storage capacities, no existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacities and high prices due to lack of competition in the region. Hence there is an evident strong interest for development and enhancement of infrastructure in the region.

The availability of energy resources is vital for fostering steady economic growth of the region. With the prospect of rapid economic development of the Southeastern European region, the issue of energy supply is soon to become one of the most pressing challenges. For this reason substantial investments into energy infrastructure are urgently needed in the coming years.

The region provides many, yet unused opportunities both in the exploitation of hydro-electric potential, as well as coal potential. It would also be sensible to consider the region’s potential for the production of biomass, used for the production of renewable energy.

I am proud to outline that Slovenia is already involved in several energy infrastructural projects in South East Europe.Slovenian companies are devoting much of their efforts to guarantee the development of new, clean and more effective technologies in the region, especially by contributing to the construction of hydroelectric power-plants, use of wind power potential and reconstruction of coal–fired power-plants. This could provide an excellent opportunity for both Slovenia and the United Kingdom and their energy companies to combine their experience and efforts to establish themselves in this developing region. I believe that our companies could sucessfully cooperate with regional partners in developing energy infrastructure.

British experience with energy efficiency and the implementation of energy saving technologies, clean-coal technologies and renewables, combined with Slovenian expertise and knowledge of the local environment could provide a solution to the region’s energy needs. Slovenia could prove itself as an ideal spring-board and partner for other EU member states interested in working in South East Europe energy market.

With the establishment of the Global Opportunities Fund -Energy Training Programme For South East Europe, our cooperation with the United Kingdom gained a new perspective and serves as a positive example of our combined efforts to take appropriate steps to ensure well-functioning energy markets in the Southeastern European region.

We have to focus our efforts on the promotion of infrastructural investments essential for ensuring security of energy supply, as well as to promote the implementation of clean energy technologies and the efficient use of renewable energy resources.I am delighted that Borzen, the Slovenian power market operator, was keen and able to be one of the key partners in this enterprise.

In this process, knowledge will be crucial for the countries of the region to further develop the power markets and align with the European legislation and practice in the energy sector.

Inspired by the Energy Community Treaty, this ambitious and comprehensive training programme will train the energy experts from across the region, build a new expert network, and help to boost power markets in respective countries. Participants will benefit from the best practices available in the UK, one of the leaders in this area, as from the knowledge and skills of Slovenian energy experts.

Slovenia greatly appreciates the useful support and advice offered by the representatives of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform andthe Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which helped us to identify and forge the priorities for Slovenia’s Presidency to the Council of EU with regard to issues of energy and climate change.

We are determined to take bold steps to ensure and promote sustainbility of energy production, supply and consumption. Steps are being taken to promote cooperation between the EU and South East Europe also in the form of the Gas Forum under the Energy Community Treaty, hosted by Slovenia in this coming November.

Our focus during the Presidency to the Council of EU will be primarily dedicated to facilitating liberalization of the internal energy market, adoption of the European Strategic Energy Technology Planand the renewable energy resources legislation. We shall face the challenges of the EU and neighbouring markets’ interdependance and the provision of a sustainable and secure supply, which can be achieved only through harmonization and an appropriate international monitoring regime.

EU strives to be the leader in this field, provided it can guarantee the development of new technologies and meet strategic political challenges. Keeping this in mind, let us take use this opportunity to make the goal of buliding a bridge between the EU and South East Europe in the field of energy a reality.

My sincere thanks go to His Royal Highness, the Duke of York, in his capacity of the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, to the BritishEmbassy and Ambassador Simmons, to the Ministry of Economy and to the Borzen, the power market operator. I wish the programme a good start and participants to benefit from the training to the full, and to enjoy the hospitality of the Slovenian hosts.

Thank you.

1