"Our message has always been the same, we have said this repeatedly and on the level of the three prime ministers – the Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) project is open to participation of Polish companies. As far as I know, conversations among companies are underway and I would hope executives and experts of PGE would come to Lithuania shortly to further discuss their intentions regarding the Visaginas project," Kubilius told BNS in a telephone interview on Wednesday evening after an informal meeting with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
In Kubilius' words, conversations in further detail are held between both companies.
"I would like to remind you once again that Poland is a large country planning to develop nuclear energy and it is interested in nuclear projects," said the Lithuanian prime minister in comment of his Polish counterpart's stance on the Visaginas project.
In Kubilius' words, the meeting with Tusk also addressed other key energy matters: "In the energy discussion, we spoke a lot about links of gas systems, the Visaginas project about the second link of Lithuanian-Polish electricity systems, Mažeikių Nafta (Mažeikiai Oil), shale gas, Lotos' investments in Lithuania, we had an opportunity to make a rather thorough overview of all key projects," Kubilius said.
Lithuania's Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas said on Wednesday the decision taken by the Polish-operated energy company PGE to withdraw from the Visaginas N-plant construction project was an reckless move. In his words, Poland is now demonstrating big interest in the opportunity to take part in the Visaginas project.
"The chances of Poland's participation is rather big. The interest I heard in Poland is very big indeed," Sekmokas told journalists after the government's meeting on Wednesday.
In the end of 2011, PGE announced its decision to suspend its participation in the Visaginas nuclear power plant project. The company's CEO Tomasz Zadroga then said the terms and conditions of participation were unacceptable, noting that the group had other important projects. He resigned a week after the statement.
