EBRD may finance Lithuania energy projects

VILNIUS - Jan Fische, vice-president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has said in a meeting withthe Lithuanianprime minister that the bank would consider financingmajor new energy projects in the country. 

Those projects would include the construction of a power link with Sweden and Poland, the construction of a new liquified natural gas facility and other projects that would help secure the country's energy independence.

"In today's meeting we mostly concentrated upon the energy independence issue, which is important not only for the country, but also for the entire region. We discussed the EBRD's possible support to Lithuania's energy connections, as well as liquid fuel supply," said Fischer.

A key advisor to Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, Mykolas Majauskas, confirmed to reporters that the bank was considering helping to finance the new projects.

“New possibilities were discussed. These possibilities are related to the infrastructure development – the power bridges with Poland and Sweden. The EBRD’s possibilities for financing the liquefied gas terminal were also discussed. They would be ready to talk about possibilities to finance such a terminal,” Majauskas said.

Securing energy independence for Lithuania has been a hot topic issue in recent months as the country lodged a series of complaints - the most recent earlier this week - over Russian gas giant Gazprom's abusing their monopoly of the Lithuanian energy sector.