The United States have pledged to support the Three Seas energy investments with $1 billion, said Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz during the press briefing at the 56th Munich Security Conference, adding that American support is a “very important declaration which proves how seriously the United States treats the Three Seas initiative.”
Czaputowicz stated that the U.S. wants to show their support by engaging with the development of Central-European infrastructure of the Three Seas countries, which include the 12 countries of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
“The funds will be able to be used to increase the transfer of energy resources and improvement of the state of infrastructure,” he said.
The foreign minister stated that the 2020 Three Seas Initiative summit will be held in Estonia. It will focus on developing road and railway infrastructure on the North-South axis of the Three Seas countries and on energy infrastructure.
Czaputowicz explained that the main issue is creating a possibility to transfer gas between the countries, which will be beneficial for Three Seas member states, as well as countries such as Ukraine.
He stressed that the support of the U.S. should be interpreted as a push for countries in the region to become independent of Russian energy resource deliveries and that he sees the matter as an attempt of the U.S. to engage with the region’s affairs.
“These are very important gestures which show that the U.S. has its sights on this part of Europe, and that is very important to us,” the Polish foreign minister underlined.
Czaputowicz added that the Three Seas countries also want to maintain trans-Atlantic relations and maintain the longevity and efficiency of NATO.
Earlier in Munich, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. have pledged to transfer up to USD 1 billion to Three Seas Initiative countries to support energy investments.
Pompeo assured, that these funds will be transferred via the DFC International Development Finance Corporation with support from the US Congress. The Secretary argued, that the goal is to “reinvigorate private investments” in energy sectors of the member states.
