7 December 2018

Council President Nikolić and Russian-Chinese delegation discuss CCPP Pančevo project

President of the National Council for Coordination of Cooperation with the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China Tomislav Nikolić met today a Russian-Chinese delegation headed by General Manager of Pančevo CCPP Aleksandr Varnavskiy and Shanghai Electric Project Manager Fu Gongwei.

Photograph: National Council

In the meeting, Pančevo CCPP and Shanghai Electric representatives thoroughly informed Council President Nikolić about the current stage of the Pančevo thermal power plant construction project. The plan envisages Pančevo CCPP to generate electric and thermal energy from natural gas to meet the increased needs of Serbian oil refineries, while the remainder of the generated power is to be directed into Serbia’s energy system. Gazprom Energoholding provides the majority of investments on this project, Mr. Varnavskiy said, and Mr. Fu Gongwei underlined that Shanghai Electric was one of China’s top three energy companies, which intends to hire more local engineers at the next stages of the project. Serbia’s Energoprojekt is also involved, and both the project and its execution will be agreed with the company, said TEPC Project Manager Mr. Cui Fengzhong.

The Russian-Chinese delegation also acquainted Council President Nikolić with the impediments standing in the way of execution, such as procedural matters, work and residence permits and the insurance taken out for the Chinese workers employed on the project.

Council President Nikolić underlined that team work was necessary in order for the Pančevo thermal power plant project to be successfully completed, which implied the formation of a Task Force composed of competent Serbian Government Ministry representatives assisting throughout the implementation process, in line with the existing business rules and practices of the Chinese companies operating in Serbia.