Romania’s Ambassador to Moldova Daniel Ioniță said the Iasi – Ungheni – Chisinau gas pipeline that was completed this summer is a strategic facility for the country’s energy security. Now that Moldova has such a pipeline, it can hold a different type of negotiations with the key natural gas supplier.

“It is not my role to go into details about the technical functionality or economic-financial efficiency of this pipeline. I can say that this pipeline is first of all a strategic project that offers the Republic of Moldova the luxury of energy security. It is an alternative to a pipe that until now had only one direction. Now, having the second pipeline, the negotiations can be different even over the first pipeline. It is not my role to pronounce weather gas will flow through this pipeline or not,” the ambassador stated in the talk show “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.

He admitted that the project was implemented with difficulty.

“This gas pipeline started to be built many years ago and went through different governments in Chisinau. The pipeline was finished with difficulty and not necessarily because the Romanian side was behinds schedule, but also because things started to move on in the Republic of Moldova with difficulty and a lot of stages had to be covered. I don’t think it is the case to go into details. It there hadn’t been political will till the end, the gas pipeline would have never been built. This gas pipeline is an energy alternative that can be used by the Republic of Moldova too at a certain moment. It is important that it exists and it depends on the authorities how it will be used,” said Daniel Ioniță.

At the beginning of September, Prime Minister Ion Chicu said the pipeline was put into operation technically, but will become functional only if its utilization is reasonable from economic viewpoint. The Iasi – Ungheni – Chisinau gas pipeline is an alternative to the supply of Moldova with gas, which essentially increased the energy security.