Financiarul

Bucharest will play host, November 2-4, to the fourth edition of the Energy in Central and Eastern Europe international annual forum organised by Forum Invest with official support from the Romanian Parliament and in partnership with the World Energy Council, the largest multinational energy structure.

Attending this year’s edition of the forum will be Joschka Fischer, a former German foreign minister and deputy chancellor in the Gerhard Schroeder Cabinet. Fischer has been recently appointed consultant for the development of the Nabucco gas pipeline on behalf of Germany’s RWE concern, as a counterpart to the Nord Stream project, for which former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is a consultant on behalf of Russian Gazprom.

Fischer is expected to tackle in Bucharest Europe’s energy security ahead of the start off of the Nabucco gas pipeline project, as well as alternative gas and oil supply mechanisms for European countries.
The building of the Nabucco pipeline, which Romania supports through Transgaz and which is to supply natural gas from the Caspian Sea region to European countries as an alternative to the Russian gas, is scheduled to start in late 2010.

This year’s edition of the forum is expected to bring to Bucharest more than 250 high-ranking officials of gas, oil and electricity companies, high-ranking governmental officials, investors, experts and solution providers from Romania, EU member states, the US, the Russian Federation and Turkey.

Hot topics on the forum’s agenda include opportunities on the regional energy market in the new economic context – shaping up a new energy business model through the development of smart projects; the European energy policy and the prospects for cooperation on international energy markets; a regional strategy for the development of the oil and gas sector in Central and Eastern Europe; the latest developments in the Nabucco project, and the rebirth of crude transmission projects.