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LJUBLJANA, July 30 (Itar-Tass) — Slovenia supports Russia-NATO interaction in the interests of peace and security in Europe, Slovenian Parliament Speaker Pavel Gantar told Itar-Tass on Saturday.
“We support Russia’s interaction with the alliance for the sake of, among other things, peace and security in Europe,” Gantar went on to say. He added that accidental political events often become the root cause behind sour relations between Russia and NATO.
“For its part, Slovenia is waiting for a time when it’s going to be possible to take political events out of the brackets and jointly create a system of strategic relations,” Gantar emphasized.
“The process is developing pretty quickly: decisions on missile defence and ballistic missiles are being made. It means that joint cooperation should be a priority task for NATO and Russia,” Gantar added.
“Russia and NATO agreed long ago that general instability and terrorism are posing the main threat to the world rather than decisions on missile defence and ballistic missiles,” Gantar said. He also spoke about energy cooperation between Russia and Slovenia.
Slovenia suggests setting up a special organization to develop energy cooperation between Russia and Slovenia.
“Russia occupies the 13th place in Slovenia’s trade turnover with foreign countries. We certainly have more trade relations with the EU countries, including Croatia, Germany, Serbia, Italy and Austria. But trade with Russia is in question, it’s not a rush for quantity but for improvement in quality,” Pavel Gantar said. He urged Russian entrepreneurs to be bolder in entering the Slovenian market.
Gantar also said that Slovenia was interested in developing cooperation with Russian under the South Stream project.
“This is a vital project for Russia and Slovenia, for the entire region and the EU countries,” he emphasized.
“The gas crisis that occurred two years ago showed that we should think about diversification and reliability of resources,” Gantar went on to say. He added that it would be good to set up a special joint body to trace cooperation between Russia and Slovenia in the energy sphere.
Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor also echoed this viewpoint in his interview with Itar-Tass on Saturday.
“Russia and Slovenia developed cooperation without any negative experience or prejudices,” Prime Minister Pahor said.
“Europe’s energy policy is undergoing substantial changes: there are plans to stably develop the energy sector, cut greenhouse gas emissions and use new technologies. We are planning to diversify energy sources and develop thermal and nuclear power stations,” the Slovenian prime minister said.