At the international energy conference held in Vilnius on the initiative of Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, the Prime Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have signed a declaration of agreement on energy projects of Baltic relevance.

The Prime Ministers have agreed to the Baltic-Swedish electricity interconnection. The declaration builds upon the feasibility study concluded in March 2008 and takes into consideration progress made as well as technical, financial and economic aspects of project implementation, stating that common agreement has been reached regarding the route of the project, i.e. from Lithuania to Sweden. The document notes that this should be a trilateral energy infrastructure project with participation of energy companies of Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden on an equal terms basis. The agreement reached will allow to immediately embark on practical project preparation and utilization of EUR 175 m granted by the EU for the implementation of the project which includes upgrading of the Latvian power grid.

It has been agreed to submit a joint application on the utilisation of the financial assistance by 15 May, and embark on the seabed exploration as early as this summer.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has noted in his presentation that rapid implementation of the Baltic-Swedish interconnection is a common interest for all the Baltic States. “The Baltic States have once again proven that, for the common goal, they are able to find solutions acceptable to all parties”, Andrius Kubilius underlined. According to the Prime Minister, “when the common Baltic electricity market is in place, the question on the precise route of the cable is not that significant. Rather, it is essential to see implementation of the project as soon as possible. It is the common interest for all the Baltic States. Our today’s agreement is favourable for all the parties of the project”.

Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Prime Ministers have also agreed to the creation of an open and transparent common Baltic electricity market on the basis of the Nord Pool market model within the shortest time frame, but not later than 2013.

Prime Minister Kubilius underlined: “The creation of the electricity market should start without delay, thereby putting an end to the domination of the energy monopolies. It was laid down in our Government Programme, and we have to take real measures and not paper ones in creating the power market. We are lagging behind Latvia, which is more advanced in this sense. The free electricity market means that introduction of competition in the energy sector, with all consumers having an option to choose a power supplier, instead of buying electricity from one source as the current situation is. As the Nordic experience shows, energy consumers are going to benefit most from the competition, as it eventually reduces energy prices”.

The conference also touched on the Lithuanian-Polish power bridge, implementation of Visaginas nuclear power plant project and other topical energy issues in the region.