MOLDOVA

Georgia, together with 12 NATO member countries and partners, will take part in the international naval exercise “Sea Shield 24”, which will be held in Romania from April 8 to 21, the press service of the Romanian Ministry of Defense reported.

According to the information, in addition to Georgia and Romania, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the USA, Turkey and France will take part in the exercises.

Pursuant to a decision of the National Assembly of March 14, 2024, promulgated on March 19, 2024, on a proposal by the executive director of Bulgartransgaz EAD Vladimir Malinov the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of the company took the decision for carrying-out a public procurement in relation to the initiative of the gas transmission operators of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine and Moldova for the Vertical Corridor.

The expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor, which supplies gas from the Caspian Sea region to Europe, was among the topics discussed at the Black Sea Security Conference organized by Caspian Policy Center, Trend reports.

Plans to expand the capacity of the IGB interconnector to 5 billion cubic meters per year will be of great importance to be able to transfer 10 billion cubic meters per year of LNG from the terminals in Greece and Caspian gas through the Southern Gas Corridor, reaching Moldova, Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia.

Over 15.5 million megawatt-hours (MWh) were transported on the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnection in 2023. The project celebrated its first anniversary and successfully achieved 365 days of operation without interruption of activities.

The capacity of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which has 15 gas traders as registered users, was booked by 90 percent in February, Teodora Georgieva, chief executive director of ICGB company, the pipeline operator, said, Trend reports.

Moreover, she noted that in December, with over 90 percent of its capacity booked, IGB transported gas to Moldova.

Representatives of ICGB AD (Bulgaria), Bulgartransgaz EAD (Bulgaria), DESFA S.A. (Greece), Gastrade S.A. (Greece), FGSZ LTD (Hungary) and SNTGN TRANSGAZ S.A. (Romania) signed the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the Vertical Gas Corridor. The meeting took place in Athens, Greece.

During the second phase of the "special operation" launched this week, as people in the Russian Federation call the war against Ukraine for fear of punishment, it is planned to establish full control over Donbass and southern Ukraine and provide a land corridor to Crimea, said the  acting commander of the Central Military District - Rustam Minnekaev  (https://www.interfax.ru/world/837353 ).

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov took part in the 37th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of GUAM, Georgia Online reports.

The Secretariat of GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (ODED GUAM) made a statement on the liberation of Azerbaijani Shusha city from Armenian occupation, “Trend” reports citing GUAM.