2 yıl önce

Ankara, Moscow to jointly work on building gas hub in Türkiye: Erdogan

Türkiye and Russia have instructed their respective energy authorities to immediately begin technical studies on the Russian proposal, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says.

AA

On the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Erdogan also told reporters Ankara's mediation between the two countries continues.

Ankara and Moscow will work jointly on building a natural gas hub in Türkiye's Thrace region after the Russian leader's proposal earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

"For such a distribution centre, of course, Thrace is seen as the most important place for this business,” said Erdogan on Thursday, referring to a region in northwestern Türkiye, near the Greek border.

“Together with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, we instructed our Energy and Natural Resources Ministry and the relevant institution on the Russian side to work together. They will do this work there," Erdogan told reporters on the presidential plane returning from a trip to Kazakhstan.

"Wherever the most appropriate place is, we will hopefully have established this distribution centre there. We have a national distribution centre, but of course, now this will be an international distribution centre," Erdogan said.

On the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit in the Kazakh capital Astana, Erdogan earlier held a closed-door meeting with Putin, who had proposed building a natural gas hub in Türkiye.

'Most reliable partner'

Praising Türkiye as "the most reliable partner" for gas deliveries to Europe, Putin said building a hub in Türkiye would allow, among other things, regulating prices, selling gas at reasonable prices, and ruling out "politicization" of the issue.

On the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Erdogan also told reporters Ankara's mediation between the two countries continues.

"Concerning Türkiye's mediation, the trust Russia and some other countries have in Türkiye remains the same," Erdogan said, adding: "The continuing trust in Türkiye also pleased us."

Türkiye has been in close contact with both Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict.

Erdogan has repeatedly stressed his wish to bring Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together at the negotiating table in Türkiye to end the war.

SOURCE: AA