By RIA Novosti,
Athens : Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis will pay an official visit to Russia on April 29, the government press service said on Wednesday.
During his visit, Karamanlis is expected to meet with Russian officials in Moscow to discuss bilateral projects in the energy sector, namely the South Stream and Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipelines.
“We expect to be able to finalize a number of agreements that are being drafted,” a Russian deputy foreign minister, Vladimir Titov, said.
Russia, Bulgaria, and Greece signed a memorandum on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline in April 2005. Once completed, the pipeline will pump 35 million metric tons of oil a year (257.25 million bbl), a volume that could eventually be increased to 50 million metric tons (367.5 million bbl).
The South Stream pipeline is expected to pump 30 billion cubic meters of Central Asian natural gas to Europe per year. Serbia and Hungary joined the project, already involving Italy and Bulgaria, earlier this year. Greece announced plans to join South Stream last summer.