Turkish, Kazakh Ministers View Economic Relations

Text of report in English by Turkish news agency Anatolia

Ankara, 6 May: Turkish state minister said on Tuesday [6 May] that they wanted to transport Kazakh oil and natural gas via Turkey.

State Minister Kursad Tuzmen met Tourism and Sports Minister Temirkhan Minaydarovich Dosmukhambetov of Kazakhstan, who is currently paying a formal visit to Ankara to attend the Turkey- Kazakhstan Joint Economic Commission meetings.

“Current trade volume between Turkey and Kazakhstan has exceeded 2.3bn US dollars. If we succeed in developing a single Customs code in whole Central Asia, we will reach a rapidly-increasing trade volume,” Tuzmen said.

“Kazakhstan has a production of 55m tonnes of oil and 14.3bn cubic metres of natural gas. We want to transport Kazakh oil through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and Kazakh natural gas through Baku- Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline,” Tuzmen added.

Kazakh Minister Dosmukhambetov, together with Turkish State Minister Mustafa Said Yazicioglu, will sign Turkey-Kazakhstan Joint Economic Commission protocol.

Dosmukhambetov will also be received by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Originally published by Anatolia news agency, Ankara, in English 0825 6 May 08.

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