Moscow, Belgrade To Jointly Finance TurkStream Extension Via Serbia - Serbian President

Moscow and Belgrade will jointly finance the construction of the extension of TurkStream gas pipeline through Serbia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2019) Moscow and Belgrade will jointly finance the construction of the extension of TurkStream gas pipeline through Serbia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday.

On Thursday, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller confirmed plans to finish the construction of the pipeline in Serbia for transportation of the TurkStream gas before the end of 2019. This pipeline will run from the Serbian-Bulgarian to the Serbian-Hungarian border. The length of the gas pipeline on the territory of Serbia will be 403 kilometers (250 miles), according to Miller.

"This project would pose key infrastructural and strategic importance for the future of Serbia. This is a huge investment. The financing will be shared by the Russian and Serbian sides.

We will see to what extent and volume," Vucic said at a press conference, noting the great importance of this project for the future of Serbia, industrialization, progress and growth of the country's GDP.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after a meeting with Vucic that Russia was ready to invest $1.4 billion in the construction of the extension of the TurkStream gas pipeline to European countries via Serbia.

The TurkStream pipeline comprises two lines each having the capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters (556.2 billion cubic feet) per year. One line is expected to supply natural gas solely for consumption in Turkey, while the second string will ship gas to southern European countries through Turkey.