A first regional taskforce for cooperation between EU member states on energy matters, as part of the EU’s Energy Purchase Platform, is scheduled to meet in Sofia tomorrow, as announced earlier this week by European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson.

The regional taskforce will concentrate on the year ahead and provide specific regional expertise and know-how to develop and implement the REPowerEU action plan to reduce dependency on Russian fossil fuels, fill storage ahead of next winter and further accelerate the decarbonization of the energy sector.

This meeting comes following Russia’s recent decision to disrupt natural gas supply to Bulgaria as well as Poland.

The Bulgarian government has also organized a coinciding meeting of regional ministers. Greece’s energy minister Kostas Skrekas (photo) and the ministry’s secretary-general Alexandra Sdoukou will participate.

The two Greek government officials will be visiting Sofia on the heels of yesterday’s official launch of work on the Alexandroupoli FSRU, an LNG terminal project intended to diversify the energy sources of Greece and the wider region. Yesterday’s official ceremony was attended by heads of state representing Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia.

During their visit to Sofia, the Greek energy ministry’s two officials are also expected to take part in a bilateral meeting with Bulgarian energy minister Alexander Nikolov.

This session’s agenda will examine the progress of the IGB gas pipeline, set to be completed and launched in July, and an electricity grid interconnection upgrade between the two countries, whose completion is expected by the end of this year.

The IGB gas pipeline, promising to contribute to the EU’s effort for drastically reduced dependency on Russian energy sources, will offer a second interconnection between Greece and Bulgaria, in addition to the nearby Sidirokastro link.