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| (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
He said the project will have lower construction costs and less countries involved in transit than other variants and will also increase the geopolitical status of countries involved. In Greece alone, it will create about 2,000 jobs and attract EUR 1.5 B of investment.
The trilateral agreement was signed by Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, Albanian Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Edmond Haxhinasto and Italian Development Minister Corrado Passera.
The ceremony was attended by TAP consortium representatives and high ranking officials of third countries, including US Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Eric Rubin.
A Greek parliamentary opposition party, left-wing Syriza, criticized the deal for being carried out to the detriment of Greece's existing energy ties with Russia.
TAP will transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into Western Europe. The project is aimed at enhancing security of supply as well as diversification of gas supplies for the European markets.
The pipeline is designed to expand transportation capacity from 10 to 20 bcm per year. The project's shareholders are Axpo of Switzerland (42.5%), Norway's Statoil (42.5%) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15%).TAP is not the only project to deliver Azerbaijani gas to Europe. Its rival projects are the Nabucco West and the Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline (ITGI).
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras stressed the geostrategic and economic importance of the interstate agreement for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. He said that the project will enhance Greece's geostrategic role in the coming decades, while also giving a steadfast framework of cooperation with the country's neighbors.
On the economic benefits of the accord, Samaras noted that the project will create "2,000 immediate jobs during the construction and operation stage, especially in areas that are literally hurting" from the spiraling unemployment. He also underlined the inflow of investment capital from an investment which, if finally materialized, will amount to 1.5 billion euro for Greece alone, noting that this would be one of the largest Direct Foreign Investments ever carried out in Greece. Another economic benefit, Samaras continued, will be an upgrading of Greece's infrastructures and strengthening of competition, so as to maximize the benefit for the Greek consumer as well, without the slightest burden to the state.
As for the advantages of the pipeline, the premier stressed that "a new energy corridor will be forged with a smaller route, a smaller construction cost and passage through fewer countries". In other words, "a corridor that will lend special weight to the participating countries and will enhance the geopolitical importance of our region overall".
The TAP pipeline will further turn Greece, for the first time, from a secondary destination-country into a transit country of cross-Europe energy networks, Samaras said, noting that the "discovery of hydro-carbon deposits in the eastern Mediterranean and the progress in the explorations already commenced by Greece change the status quo and create new opportunities for Greece to play the role of the link that connects Europe with the Middle East and Asia". "We are determined -- and I wish to state this clearly -- not to let any opportunity be left unexploited," Samaras stressed.
In a brief overview of the Greek economy and attraction of investments, Samaras said: "Day by day, we are changing Greece's image abroad and are building a steady climate of confidence in our country. At this time, we are utilizing this climate to attract investments. Investments that will bring growth again to Greece but will also vindicate the immense sacrifices by millions of Greek citizens. As I have stressed time and again, the attraction of investments is not achieved through wishes or public relations. It requires international collaborations, specific target-tables, and immense structural changes. In other words, through specific and substantive steps."
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