The group of Southeast European states represented by President Traian Basescu, President Branko Crvenkovski, President Alfred Moisiu, President Georgi Parvanov, President Nebojsa Radmanovic, President Filip Vujanovic and President Boris Tadic, Minister Ziga Turk and Deputy Minister Anastasios Nerantzis met in Zagreb at the initiative of the President of the Republic of Croatia Stjepan Mesic. Along with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin they considered a wide range of issues on cooperation in the field of energy, including the supply of energy sources to the regional market and access to sales markets, proceeding from the increasing importance of these issues in present-day world.
The representative of the European Commission attended the meeting as guest-observer, at the invitation by the host of the Summit, the President of the Republic of Croatia.
The exchange of views was based on the awareness of the growing significance and importance of countries rich in energy sources and exporting hydrocarbonic raw materials, oil products or electricity, as well as of robust demand in the energy consuming countries, within the scope of efforts to ensure a sustainable economic development and, ultimately, to improve the quality of life of citizens of Southeast European states and the Russian Federation, as well as of other countries – developed and developing ones alike.
The Summit provided a forum for the free exchange of views regarding a set of the following important issues:
1. under market economy conditions, energy is a commodity, albeit a specific one; in accordance with free market laws, this specific commodity will be accessible to all interested parties on the market under commercial and competitive conditions while complying with the principles of openness, transparency and efficiency,
2. free and unhindered access to energy and distribution channels must be provided. The relevant regulations shall be aimed at reinforcing the rule of Law in this domain.
3. energy producing and energy consuming countries just as well as transit countries shall not use energy or energy sources as means for the achievement of political goals; the energy sphere should be free from political speculation,
4. all interested countries under conditions of full transparency and on commercial basis, shall have equal opportunities and rights to invest into energy projects in accordance with the relevant international and national legislation, inter alia on the basis of long term contracts,
5. since the energy market depends on long-term investments into production and distribution networks of energy sources, the countries in the region will make efforts focused on harmonisation of their energy policies and promotion of joint investments into new sources of energy and renewal of old ones, as well as into projects of transportation and transit of energy sources to the European markets, independently of the country of their origin,
6. the further promotion of regional energy markets that will provide for the supply of energy sources at affordable prices, encourage investments and strengthen market competition is an important step towards future integration into the European internal market. The recently established Energy Community provides a framework for deepening regional energy cooperation and represents an important instrument toward creating a functional, transparent and competitive regional energy market. The South-Eastern European countries reaffirm hereby their determination to implement the provision of the Athens Treaty,
7. the exploration, production and use of energy sources shall not threaten environmental preservation and protection, and for this reason it is necessary to expand measures for ecological responsibility and environmental protection, encourage steps focused on ecological responsibility and strict compliance with relevant regulations, particularly in the interest of tackling the problem of climate change,
8. the construction and use of oil and gas pipelines, as well as of other means of transportation and supply of energy sources and energy, shall be materialised in the way that will optimally reconcile, on the one hand, the need to ensure continuous supply and unhindered access to the distribution markets and, on the other hand, the necessity to protect the environment as the basis of the existence of the human race. The participants of the Summit stress the importance of diversification of energy resources and routes, which is one of the core principles of energy security and security of supply and demand,
9. the Southeast European states, as countries importing energy sources and energy, which also are developing their own sources of energy, will sustain – in accordance with their national strategies and in the interest of development of regional and European cooperation– their involvement in the expansion of the oil and gas pipeline network, to the benefit of all countries linked by such networks,
10. the strengthening of measures and efforts aimed at exploring and increasingly using alternative and renewable sources of energy, such as bio-energy, solar and wind energy, must become a constant objective and a key point of the global energy security focused on balancing requirements for development and environmental protection and creating conditions for a healthy living of all inhabitants of the Earth,
11. The countries of the region will promote the best energy mix to cover their needs, taking under serious consideration the necessity to further promote, in this frame, environmentally friendly energy technologies. In this respect the possible use of nuclear energy, in countries who so wish, should be based on a high level of nuclear safety and safe management of radioactive waste and spent fuel, based on relevant international treaties and also implemented at the EU level,
12. the countries of the region will encourage measures for strengthening energy efficiency and energy saving through initiatives to be implemented at the national, regional and international level, including a possible international agreement on energy efficiency,
13. the Final Declaration of the G-8 Summit held in Saint Petersburg in July 2006, the conclusions of the G-8 Summit held in Heiligendamm in 2007, the conclusions of the Council of Europe from March 2007, the underlying principles of the recently established Energy Community, the main ideas presented at the Ohrid Summit in April 2007, the relevant initiatives of the United Nations and the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, of other regional organisations and institutions as well as standpoints of ad hoc meetings of high representatives of individual groups of countries have special importance in formulating and defining the global energy security and the environmental protection strategy,
14. the global energy security and the strategy of environmental protection can be designed and successfully implemented only by concerted and coordinated efforts of all the interested countries.