At 12:00 on Wednesday, 13 February 2013, the Greek-Albanian-Italian Trilateral Intergovernmental Agreement on the construction of the natural gas Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will be signed at the Foreign Ministry, in the presence of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos will sign the Agreement on behalf of Greece, with Albanian Vice President and Finance and Energy Minister Edmond Haxhinasto signing for Albania, and Italian Development Minister Corrado Passera signing for Italy. The signing ceremony will be attended by representatives of the Azerbaijani government, representatives of the three companies – Axpo (Switzerland), Statoil (Norway), and E.ON Ruhrgas (Germany) – taking part in the TAP AG joint venture, representatives of the companies comprising the Shah Deniz II Consortium, as well as high-ranking third-country officials.
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline will carry natural gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II deposit to Europe, contributing to diversification of energy sources for the European market and consolidating energy security in the European space.
It is estimated that the construction of the pipeline will generate €1.5 billion in investments and hundreds of new jobs in Greece.
February 12, 2013