Russia and EU improve cooperation over energy

Russia and the European Union will boost cooperation in the power industry, the European Commission said on Wednesday, August 7, after a meeting between Sergei Shmatko, special representative of the Russian president for international cooperation in electric power industry, and EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, in Brussels. “During the meeting current topics were discussed, including as positive future development of the electric power industry,” the European Commission said. “Both sides accepted there could be a huge potential for cooperation and discussed further plans for cooperation,” it said. Almost ten years after accession to the EU, three Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - are still not integrated into the EU electric power system and remain linked to the power grids of Russia and Belarus. This opens up additional prospects for cooperation and raises serious questions about building nuclear power plants in the region. Russia, Belarus and the Baltic countries have such projects but there is no market for their electricity in the area. Russian delegation told ITAR-TASS about “productive results” of the talks in Brussels. “During the meeting we discussed various issues of current and future development of the electric power industry. Both sides agreed that there is a big potential, discussed and agreed work plans,” a source in the Russian delegation said. Shmatko was appointed the special representative of the Russian president for cooperation in electric power industry in June 2013.