Azerbaijan To Meet Part Of Turkey's Gas Requirement

Azerbaijan would offer the necessary facilities to meet a part of Turkey's natural gas need within the scope of Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline project, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.

Erdogan told at a joint press conference with Azerbaijan President Haydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan would offer the necessary facilities to meet a part of Turkey's natural gas need within the scope of Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline project.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline is planned to be connected with the Nabucco pipeline which will run from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March, a major natural gas hub in Austria.

Erdogan said the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline as well as the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline projects showed how strong the relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan were, the Anatolian Agency reported.

"We have discussed bilateral relations on political, military, cultural, commercial and educational areas," he added. "Mr. Aliyev and I share the same views regarding the settlement of peace, stability, prosperity and cooperation in the southern Caucasus."
He said economic relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan and also Nakhichevan were developing, adding Turkish investments in Azerbaijan reached $5.5 billion.

Erdogan said foreign trade volume between Turkey and Azerbaijan was around $1.2 billion, and they aimed to increase it to $3 billion within the next two years. Turkey was the biggest commercial partner of Nakhichevan, adding Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project would be another important step, he said.

"Turkey is a strategical ally for Azerbaijan," Aliyev said, adding Azerbaijan and Turkey's opinions on all issues completely tally with each other, the Anatolian Agency reported.