BELGRADE: A pipeline connector between Serbia and Bulgaria that will reduce Serbia’s dependance on Russian gas by giving it access to Azerbaijan exports was inaugurated Sunday, Serbia’s state-run RTS television reported.

“We will get another source of supply,” Serbia’s Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said at an event near the southern town of Nis, RTS reported.

The 170-kilometre (105-mile) pipeline will allow Serbia to import up to 400 million cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan, according to a deal signed in November between the Serbian and Azeri gas companies, Srbijagas and SOCAR. Serbia’s annual gas demand is around three billion cubic meters.

The opening ceremony was attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his Bulgarian and Azeri counterparts, Rumen Radev and Ilham Aliyev. Handanovic said the pipeline would grant Serbia access to the liquified natural gas terminal in Alexandroupolis, Greece.