The contracts on cooperation in the area of energy which Serbia and Italy have signed so far should be ratified at the Serbian-Italian summit in Belgrade on June 21, officials announced in Rome on Tuesday, during the meeting of the two countries' delegations headed by Serbian Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Milutin Mrkonjic and Italian Minister of Economic Development Paolo Romani.

Now that electricity production in nuclear power plants has been brought into question all around the world, Serbia, Republika Srpska (RS) and Italy need to solve the problem of energy shortage by production based on renewable energy sources, Romani said at the meeting.

We have concluded that the agreement related to the middle course of the Drina River and the preliminary contract on Kolubara B should be signed with Italian company Edison in Belgrade in mid-June, during the meeting of the two countries' governments, so that the pace of realisation of the two projects could be accelerated, Serbian PM's advisor for the energy sector Petar Skundric told Tanjug after the meeting.

Apart from Mrkonjic and Skundric, the meeting was attended by the RS Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines Zeljko Kovacevic, Director General of the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) Dragomir Markovic, Serbian State Secretary for Energy Dusan Mrakic and General Director of Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske Branislava Milekic.

One of the topics discussed during the talks referred to the project realisation with regard to construction of Kolubara B hydroelectric power plant and the Italian Edison's offer for this project.

The officials established that the projects of construction of hydroelectric power plants on the Ibar River are going according to the plan and that the cornerstone for one or two out of ten plants on the Ibar should be laid late in 2011 or early in 2012, Skundric said.