Minister of Economy Valon Saraqini met Wednesday in Skopje with the Albanian Minister of Energy and Industry Damian Gjiknuri for talks on energy and mining cooperation, involving the construction of a Bitola-Elbasan long distance power line.

"The construction of the Bitola-Elbasan power line is of great significance for the energy and economic condition of Macedonia. Macedonia, on its part, has already prepared a feasibility study and another one concerning the environment. Technical documentation is expected to be developed in the coming period for which a grant of one million euros has been provided by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Negotiations to provide a credit of 45 million euros, the amount needed to realize the project on our part, have entered the final stage," minister Saraqini stated after the meeting.

He said that after completing all administrative procedures by 2015, the power line was planned to be built in 2017.

At the meeting, the Macedonian minister also presented 80 locations for construction of small hydro power plants after several Albanian companies had shown interest to invest.

Furthermore, the ministers discussed ways for cooperation in the field of mining and sharing of experiences over the Macedonian law on mineral raw materials.

"We agreed to sign an energy cooperation memorandum, which will hopefully happen at the upcoming meeting in Tirana," said minister Gjiknuri.