Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Petar Skundric and Slovak Minister of Economy Juraj Miskov signed Tuesday a special agreement on bilateral cooperation in energy and mining, which includes the construction of a gas network from Aleksandrovac via Novi Pazar to Tutin.

The project will cost EUR 45 million, and will be realized in direct cooperation of public enterprise Srbijagas and a Slovak consortium headed by Euroframe, it was announced at a news conference at the Serbian government offices.

Assessing that the political relations between Serbia and Slovakia are excellent, Minister Skundric pointed out the new energy agreement is the continuation of the successful economic cooperation between the two countries which was defined by a protocol in 2009.

Skundric said the construction of the Aleksandrovac-Novi Pazar-Tutin gas pipeline will take two years, and that a contract could be signed towards the end of the year.

He announced that Serbia and Slovakia could also cooperate on Serbia's second underground gas storage, Banatski Itebej, and in the area of renewable energy, assessing that the new pipeline will bring enough gas - a clean energy form - to meet the needs of homes and industry in that part of Serbia.

Miskov said the agreement was just the beginning of developing strong economic relations between the two countries. He added that there is a lot of room for cooperation and that Slovakia, whose economic growth has hit double digits, can offer its considerable economic experience to Serbia.