Armenia , Georgia and Moldova joined the Eastern Partnership Energy

Tbilisi/22.10.13/Turan-BS PRESS: Armenia , Georgia and Moldova joined the Eastern Partnership for Energy Efficiency and the Environment (Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership, E5P), the European Commission said in a statement .

Simultaneously, the international donor community has decided to increase the stock of this partnership at 70 million euros.

The donors are the EU countries plus Iceland, Norway, Ukraine, the USA, and now Armenia , Georgia and Moldova . Contributions are then used, in particular, in the schemes to raise funds at the national level and the international financial institutions, in particular, the EBRD, the EIB and the World Bank Group. Initially, the focus of the fund proposed in 2009, was Ukraine.

"The additional funding gives us the opportunity to support Ukrainian municipalities to provide sustainable and affordable heating for the population and to improve water quality. I am pleased that Armenia, Georgia and Moldova have decided to join the partnership," said the European Commissioner, Stefan Fule. The EC is ready to allocate these three countries 30 million euros to co-finance the energy efficiency projects of municipalities.

Eastern Partnership countries are faced with difficult conditions in the field of energy, according to the EC. Most of them are heavily dependent on expensive imported gas. On average, they are three times more energy intensive than the EU. -02D-