Warsaw, March 16 (IANS) Poland aims to become an energy hub and energy security provider for Central Europe, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
"Our plan is to become an energy hub, a gas hub in particular, for Central Europe," Xinhua news agency quoted Morawiecki as saying at a conference here on Polish-Ukrainian partnership to make the future energy system secure.
According to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), the conference was attended by representatives of governments and leading energy companies from both countries.
Morawiecki said his government's plan is based on already existing inter-connectors and gas pipelines, as well as the country's future investments in nuclear energy.
He noted that Poland has already invested in a floating terminal for receiving, storing and regasifying liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is expanding the crude oil handling facilities of Naftoport company in Gdansk on the Baltic coast.
"This infrastructure can be used in the future by recipients from Poland, but also our partners from Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and ... Hungary."
Poland and the Czech Republic are planning to return to a joint project of building the Stork II gas interconnector and other cross-border energy bridges between the two countries, he added.
Energy cooperation with Ukraine and neighbouring countries "is also an element of Poland's national interest", Morawiecki said, expecting the plan to make Poland a provider of regional energy security, which will thus strengthen its political position in Central Europe.
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