The Athens Riviera Summit 2025, an international platform for multilateral dialogue (October 1-3) held at Astéria Glyfádas, brought together leading figures from the fields of investment, economics, and institutional leadership in a setting conducive to high-level dialogue and collaboration.
The Athens Riviera Summit is a premier international economic forum that brings together senior government officials, global investors, representatives of international organizations, and business leaders from Greece, Europe, the Middle East, the United States, and other strategically important regions. With a diverse program and an ambitious agenda, the Athens Riviera Summit 2025 acts as a catalyst for partnerships and a hub for economic diplomacy, fostering inclusive dialogue on issues of international, national and regional importance.
Structured around three major themes, the event addressed international economic alliances in a rapidly evolving global environment, while highlighting the prospects for the Greek economy, with a focus on growth strategies, major deals and investment opportunities in key sectors such as energy, infrastructure, technology, and tourism.
Present at the event, CEO of Transgaz Ion Sterian participated in the working meeting of the CEOs of transmission and system operators of the Vertical Corridor.
The meeting was aimed at signing the joint letter from the Vertical Corridor TSOs to the national regulatory authorities for the accelerated and timely approval of the extension for 2025/2026 of the temporary monthly capacity product ‘Route 1’, which is of key importance for the implementation of the concept, to ensure the necessary flows to Ukraine during the coming winter and the next injection season. Through this letter, the transmission and system operators of the Vertical Corridor request the swiftest possible approval of the proposal to extend the temporary monthly capacity product ‘Route 1’ for the year 2025/2026.
The document was signed for Transgaz and Vestmoldtransgaz by Transgaz CEO Ion Sterian, for Bulgartransgaz by CEO Vladimir Malinov, for DESFA by CEO Maria Ritta Galli, and for Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine by CEO Vladyslav Medvedev.
On July 1, Ukraine received its first gas supplies through the Vertical Corridor. On June 23, 2025, the monthly capacity booking process for the month of July 2025 was carried out on the NTS interconnection points for the bundled product on Route 1.
The gas transmission operators in Greece (DESFA), Bulgaria (Bulgartransgaz), Romania (Transgaz), Moldova (VestMoldTransgaz SRL) and Ukraine (GTSOU) submitted in May an initiative to national regulatory authorities regarding the creation of a special monthly firm bundled capacity product for natural gas deliveries from Greece to Ukraine for the period June 1 – October 30, 2025.
The introduction of a joint booking product from Greece to Ukraine provides alternative and competitive sources of natural gas and improves the region’s energy security, marking another step towards strengthening the Vertical Corridor.
“We have worked intensively with the transmission operators in Greece (DESFA), Bulgaria (Bulgartransgaz), Moldova (VestMoldTransgaz), owned by Transgaz, and Ukraine (GTSOU) to support Ukraine in storing 3.5bcm of gas. This bundled capacity product at all interconnection points will have a single tariff at all interconnection points, with a 25% discount to facilitate the transmission of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Greece directly to storage facilities in Ukraine. We have made every effort towards this goal. This product will facilitate the flow of LNG from the US and other parts of the world to vulnerable consumers in Ukraine,” Transgaz CEO Ion Sterian stated in May this year.
About the Vertical Corridor
The Vertical Corridor is part of the South-North Corridor of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) and aims to diversify natural gas sources and increase the security of gas supply for countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. This initiative was launched and supported as early as 2016 by Ion Sterian, Transgaz’s CEO. The project involves the collaboration of countries in the Central and South-East European Union, including Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, together with the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, to develop a new alternative gas supply in the region, thus strengthening energy security. The Vertical Gas Corridor represents an extensive pipeline system consisting of current and future infrastructure, including pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and storage facilities. Its full activation, through the appropriate upgrading of the networks in the mentioned countries, will allow gas to be transported from south to north and vice versa through the European natural gas and LNG transmission systems, capitalizing on the increased capacities of new and developing LNG terminals in the area. This potential can be further expanded by using the mentioned infrastructure for renewable gases and hydrogen. The project initiated by Transgaz, through CEO Ion Sterian, is also backed by the US administration, which sees it as an opportunity to reduce the volatility of gas prices and a way to break free from Russian gas.