The Bulgarian cabinet authorised the Minister of Energy to sign the Memorandum for Understanding on the project for the construction of a gas interconnection pipeline between Bulgaria and Serbia, between the governments of the two countries, the Bulgarian Government Information Service announced.

The document’s project was approved in October of last year, and its aim is to speed up activities on the construction of the interconnector. The signing of the Memorandum for Understanding is a continuation of the agreement signed on December 14, 2012 between the two countries for the construction of the gas interconnection pipeline.

The document reflects the updated technical specifications, which were changed in result of the prepared in 2015 detailed plot plan, technical project for the Bulgarian section, as well as a joint road map for the project implementation, presented to the European Commission in September 2015.

The execution of the first phase on the design of the Bulgarian section of the interconnector finished on December 31, 2015, with financing provided under Operational Programme "Development of the Competitiveness of the Bulgarian Economy" 2007-2013. For the second phase of the project, financing is provided through a procedure for direct provision of funds under Operational Programme "Competitiveness and Innovation" 2014-2020.

(FOCUS News Agency, 11 January 2017)