Warsaw, November 7 - Neftegaz.RU. US Energy Secretary Rick Perry is due to visit Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and the Czech Republic this week, the US embassy in Warsaw has said.
The visit comes as the US administration seeks to offer Poland and other countries in its region alternatives to buying coal and gas from Russia, the US Department of Energy said in a statement last week.
During his trip, Perry aims to build on efforts to «elevate American energy partnerships in the region» and expand energy cooperation between the U.S. and its European allies. Perry is expected to «engage with government officials on a variety of topics from nuclear energy to cybersecurity and coal and LNG exports,» the embassy said on its website.
Perry was in January quoted as saying that the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany posed a threat to security in Central and Eastern Europe. Polish PGNiG last month said it had finalised an unprecedented long-term deal for the purchase of LNG from the U.S. amid efforts to make Poland independent of Russian supplies.
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters in Warsaw at the time that the deal, which is due to take full effect in 2022, would help reduce his country's dependence on Russian gas deliveries.
US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher said in a Polish-language tweet that the contract marked a milestone in deepening energy cooperation between the U.S. and Poland and in strengthening energy security in Europe.
