(Adnkronos) – An infrastucture project to transport renewable hydrogen for over 3,300 kilometres from Algeria and Tunisia via Italy to Germany and Austria will help companies and cut energy costs, boosting competitiveness, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Tuesday.
“This green hydrogen agreement is a step towards supporting businesses,” Tajani said on the sidelines of a meeting in Rome on the Southern Hydrogen corridor).
“It forms part of a strategy: achieving an energy mix that frees us and lower energy costs that makes our businesses less competitive,” he said.
Ministers from Italy, Germany, Austria, Tunisia and Algeria on Tuesday signed a joint declaration of intent on the Southern Hydrogen corridor.
Tajani, and environment minister Gilberto Pichetto, chaired Tuesday’s meeting held at Villa Madama. Participants included Algeria’s energy minister Mohamed Arkab; state secretary of Germany’s economic affairs ministry, Philipp Nimmermann, Austria’s environment ministry’s director-general Juergen Schneider; secretary of state for the Swiss Federal Council for Energy, Benoit Revaz; Tunisia’s ambassador Mourad Bourehla on behalf of industry minister Fatma Thabet Chiboub; and the European Commission’s energy director-general Ditte Juul Jorgensen.
The ministerial meeting was followed by a Business Forum opened by Tajani and Pichetto, which brought together some 130 representatives from signatory countries, as well as institutional delegations, according to a foreign ministry statement.
The forum was attended by companies from Italy, Germany, Austria, Tunisia and Algeria that are present or interested in the hydrogen supply chain, also in light of the strategic partnership between Europe and Africa, said the statement.
The Southern Hydrogen Corridor or ‘SouthH2’ ris ecognised by the European Union as a Project of Common Interest (PCI), the statement noted.
