01 April 2004

AGREED CONCLUSIONS

resulting from the INOGATE Energy Ministerial Meeting:

"New Perspectives for INOGATE Programme 2004-2006"

Brussels, 29 March 2004

On 29 March 2004, during the Ministerial Meeting entitled "New Perspectives for INOGATE Programme 2004-2006", the Energy Ministers from the INOGATE Partner Countries (i.e. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan), and the European Commission clearly expressed their interest to sustain further joint co-operation for the implementation of the new INOGATE Action Programme 2004-2006 and more specifically the Action Programme 2004.

The European Commission presented the Action Programme 2004 which consists of three (3) projects totalling 8.5 MEUR of technical assistance support:

1. INOGATE Regional Secretariats which proposes to consolidate the already operational INOGATE Technical Secretariat in Kyiv and the creation of two (2) new regional sub-Secretariats ? one in the Caucasus Region and one in Central Asia ? for facilitating investments in regional oil and gas transportation infrastructure projects;
2. INOGATE-IFI Technical Assistance Support Fund for facilitating investments in oil and gas projects in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia with a view to enhance the safety and security of the energy supply within the regions and to the EU;
3. Rapid-response Expert Facility in Central Asia facilitate the development of gas supplies and interstate transportation through increased capacity, reliability, safety of the gas networks linking Central Asia to the European Union.

This common interest to facilitate investment attraction to important regional oil and gas transportation projects and specifically to mobilise IFI investments in the sector was marked by the official signing of an "Agreed Conclusions" in which the Energy Ministers from the INOGATE Partner Countries and the European Commission respectively agreed on the need and importance of all three (3) projects presented within the framework of the INOGATE Action Programme 2004.

All interested parties involved have agreed to continue the initiated dialogue at different levels in order to facilitate the realisation of these very important projects and have expressed their desire to continue their co-operation with other countries and organisations in order to stimulate their interest in the extension of this project.

For more information on the INOGATE Programme, please visit the INOGATE web site at www.inogate.org.