Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.25
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The intergovernmental agreement on Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria is expected to be adopted in the first half of 2019, Teodora Georgieva, Executive Officer of ICGB AD (project company) on the Bulgarian side, told Trend.
She noted that the intergovernmental agreement that shall be signed between Greece and Bulgaria will establish the applicable tax framework for the project.
“For the purposes of facilitation of the negotiation process with the Bulgarian and Greece Tax Authorities the project company has elaborated a Head of Terms Document on the fiscal matters, comprising in details the clauses to be included in the intergovernmental agreement,” said the executive officer.
She pointed out that the Head of Terms has passed several rounds of revision and discussion with experts from the Bulgarian and Greek tax administrations and incorporates all the relevant comments received.
The Head of Terms was also submitted for a review to the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission.
“The aligned version of the Head of Terms was submitted for approval to the Council of Ministers in Bulgaria. The meeting of the Council of Ministers in Bulgaria was held on Sept.12, and the term sheet was accepted. Similar actions are expected to be carried out also in Greece,” said Georgieva.
Once the formal approval is completed and the European Commission conclusion on the compatibility of state aid is obtained the following step is the ratification of the agreement by the parliaments in both countries, she noted.
The executive officer added that the ratification of the document is the final step for the adoption of the agreement by both countries and is expected to happen in H1 of 2019.
IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.
The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.
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