i want to thank mr burke for his question concerning the southern corridor plans and the meetings during the upcoming czech presidency
we will ensure that these are the three priorities energy external relations and the economy which are fully integrated and interconnected and focus on the concrete initiative this is one of them
it will in particular concentrate on the objective of ensuring reliable supplies of energy through the development of a range of energy relationships with third countries and regions and by working towards greater diversification of energy resources as well as the transit routes
the presidency intends to take this work forward on the basis of the elements contained in the commission communication on the second strategic energy review
the council is expected to adopt a conclusion on this communication in february and energy security will be of particular focus in the spring two thousand and nine european council
as part of its work a large number of meetings with third countries or third-country organisations are planned
these meetings will deal either exclusively with energy-related themes or will cover energy among the other issues
as regards the specific discussion on energy strategic corridors to which the honourable member refers the presidency is organising the following meetings
the most important are first the international investment conference on the ukrainian gas transit network which will take place in brussels on twenty-three march two thousand and nine
second the so-called southern corridor summit meeting which we plan to organise together with the eastern partnership event that will take place in prague in early may
the aim of that meeting is to launch a mutually beneficial dialogue between the eu and both the transit and producing countries from the caspian region
this should lead to a greater diversification of energy supply routes suppliers and sources and will thus strengthen the energy security of the eu
one of the specific purposes is to promote the nabucco project
the issue of the strategic energy corridor is also likely to be addressed during the meeting of the eu-russia permanent partnership council on energy which will also be organised under the czech presidency probably in may just to create a run-up to the summit meeting between the eu and russia which we are planning for twenty-two may two thousand and nine
so the importance of the strategic energy corridors referred to by the honourable members has been clearly underlined by the ukrainian-russian gas dispute in early january
the council at its extraordinary session of twelve january two thousand and nine which was devoted to this subject adopted conclusions outlining a number of measures to be taken in the short medium and long term
so the presidency will work to ensure that appropriate and concrete follow-up is given to these measures as a part of the high priority it attaches to the issue of energy security
