BELGRADE, Serbia

Serbia launched the interconnector to a pipeline in Bulgaria on Sunday which will allow the Balkan country to diversify its natural gas supplies and reduce its dependency on Russia.

The interconnector will enable a pipeline from the town of Novi Iskar in Bulgaria to the Serbian city of Nis to become operational and allow Serbia to access gas from Azerbaijan​​​​​​​ and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Greek port of Alexandroupolis.

The 170-kilometer (105-mile) pipeline, with a transmission capacity of 1.8 billion cubic meters per year, connects the national natural gas systems of the two countries.

The pipeline will account for 60% of Serbia's annual gas needs.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and Emanuele Giaufret, the head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia, attended the inauguration ceremony for the interconnector in Nis.