Croatian Foreign Minister Says Croatia Interested in South Stream

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic has said that Croatian is still interested in joining the South Stream project should the South Stream consortium choose to route the pipeline through the country.

At a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in New York yesterday, the two foreign ministers discussed relations between Croatia and Russia, particularly in regard to the South Stream pipeline project.

Minister Pusic said that though Russia had not yet chosen the final route for the pipeline, Croatia would like to be included, Croatian Telecom reports.

Croatia's pipeline operator Plinacro has previously entered into talks with operator and majority shareholder of the South Stream pipeline Gazprom. As of last month, Plinacro reported that the discussions on Croatia's inclusion in the pipeline were "intense".

If chosen, Croatia would take Hungary's place as a routing country for South Stream. Delays in financing on the Hungarian side of the project are thought to be responsible for Croatia's consideration as a route country for the pipeline.