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The Institute actively participated in the annual Sofia Economic Forum which was held in Bulgaria’s capital on January 20. This well attended event, which was convened by the Tsomokos group which also organises the prestigious Delphi Economic Forum, covered all aspects of Bulgaria’s economy and booming markets.
Following an invitation by the organisers the Chairman of the Institute, Costis Stambolis, traveled to Sofia and participated in the special energy panel which brought together authorities from Bulgaria and Greece to discuss current energy issues with a bearing on regional developments.“ Counting on energy: South East Europe’s chip for a seat at the global table”, was the theme of the panel which brought together some of the top energy executives and experts from the region and beyond. The panel, which was expertly moderated by George Satlas, Executive Officer of ICGB and Chairman of the Hellenic Business Council, in Bulgaria, also included Vladimir Malinov, former Minister of Energy, Republic of Bulgaria(2024-2025),George Christidis, Executive Director of the Canadian Nuclear Association, Konstantin Konstantinov, CEO, IBEX, Martin Georgiev, Executive Director, National Electricity Company and Theodora Georgieva, Executive Director, ICGB.
Many thanks go to the Tsomokos organisation for inviting all the above and to the participants themselves for a very engaging and constructive discussion which focused on the region’s current energy issues. These range from the persisting high gas and electricity prices which affect the whole SEE region, to the fresh challenges on gas supply following the termination at the start of the year of Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine, and the future role of RES given latest problems reflated to grid operation. Consequently energy security was brought to the fore and in this context the prospects of new projects such as the Vertical Corridor, planned FSRU projects and cross border electricity transmission were examined in some depth.
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