Germany believes that it is "right and necessary" to implement the Nord Stream 2 project while preserving Ukraine's role as a transit country, German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said on Wednesday.
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th November, 2018) Germany believes that it is "right and necessary" to implement the Nord Stream 2 project while preserving Ukraine's role as a transit country, German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said on Wednesday.
"We consider it right and necessary to implement the Nord Stream 2 project, but we also believe that Ukraine strongly depends on future transit of gas and Germany and Europe should be concerned about this," Altmaier said during a Russian-German raw materials business conference in the German city of Potsdam.
Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Russian energy giant Gazprom and five European companies France's Engie, Austria's OMV AG, UK-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, and Germany's Uniper and Wintershall. The project envisages the construction of two gas pipelines that will run from Russia, through the Baltic Sea and to a hub in Germany, bypassing Ukraine entirely. It aims to deliver 55 billion cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of Russian natural gas to the EU states every year. A new pipeline is planned to be built next to the existing Nord Stream.
A number of countries, Ukraine in particular, oppose the construction of Nord Stream 2. Russia, the European Commission and Ukraine are currently negotiating a prolongation of the contract for the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine after its expires in 2019.
The 11th Russian-German Raw Materials Conference is being held in Potsdam on November 6-8 within the framework of the "Permanent Russian-German Forum on the issues of the use of raw materials" under the patronage of Minister President of Brandenburg Dr. Dietmar Woidke. The Russian delegation, headed by Governor of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area Natalia Komarova, is participating in the event. The Permanent Russian-German Forum on the use of raw materials was founded on October 10, 2006 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
