Slovenia, Hungary and Serbia have signed a partnership agreement to strengthen cooperation in energy. The joint BlueSky project is expected to establish a new foundation for regional electricity trading, ensuring better market integration, increasing energy security and stimulating economic progress.

Announcing the signing of the agreement in Budapest on 9 April, the Slovenian Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy said that BlueSky is the result of negotiations and close cooperation between representatives of the three national energy exchanges.

The ministry believes that the consolidation of local markets will enable access to single trading and a clearing system in Slovenia, Serbia and Hungary, which will in turn strengthen the single European market and the energy transition.

The agreement comes after the Slovenian national grid operator Eles and Serbia's Elektromreža Srbije founded last December the regional electricity exchange Adex with Epexspot, the Paris-based organiser of electricity markets in 13 countries.

The first regional electricity exchange for Central and Southeastern Europe has now been joined by HUPX Hungarian Power Exchange, which was established in 2010 by the Hungarian grid operator MAVIR.

This makes Adex the highest-liquidity electricity exchange in this part of Europe, the ministry said, adding that part of the joint exchange would stay in Ljubljana.

The agreement was signed by Slovenian Environment, Climate and Energy Minister Bojan Kumer, Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto and Serbian Mining and Energy Ministry State Secretary Veljko Kovačević.

The ministry quoted Kumer as saying on the occasion that BlueSky would become the cornerstone for a more connected and more efficiently functioning energy market in the region.

"By joining forces, we can more efficiently address the common energy challenges. For many years, integration in the field of electricity has been a kind of precursor to the EU enlargement process," he added.