O. Danilov: The Council of Energy Security Experts should become a platform for developing the main provisions of the Energy Security Strategy

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov conducted the first meeting of the Energy Security Experts Council.

The participants of the meeting considered the problematic issues concerning the preparation of the enterprises of the fuel and energy complex for the heating season 2020/2021, as well as the functioning of the electricity and natural gas markets and discussed ways to improve their work.

Opening the meeting, the Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine noted that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky adopted the National Security Strategy of Ukraine, which is a "fundamental document" for the development of the state.

According to O. Danilov, the National Security Strategy introduced the development and approval of some strategies in priority areas of life and development of our country.

In this context, he emphasized that the Experts Council should become a platform where the main provisions of the Energy Security Strategy will be formulated and the tools for achieving concrete results of its implementation will be approved.

In addition, he said, the Experts Council should join the development of Economic Security Strategy, Environmental Security Strategy and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Cyber Security Strategy of Ukraine.

The Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine drew the participants' attention to the "critical situation" in the energy sector. According to him, "the management system is unbalanced and managed in a "manual" mode, there is a serious crisis of payment defaults and financial condition of enterprises is complicated". "All this can lead to very dangerous consequences", - he said.

The participants of the meeting discussed in details the electricity market situation and the preparation of fuel and energy complex enterprises for the heating season.

In outcome of the discussion, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, some ministries and agencies will be recommended to take measures to stabilize the situation in the industry, including solutions to improve the financial situation of enterprises, to resolve payment defaults and elimination of imbalances in the electricity market.

The Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine also stressed that the Staff of the Council should receive verified information on the production balance and financial condition of the energy sector to inform the President of Ukraine.

The Energy Security Experts Council proposed to conduct additional meeting to discuss in detail the situation on the natural gas market.