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Greece, Turkey Inaugurate Joint Natural Gas Pipeline Project

Posted on: Monday, 4 July 2005, 09:00 CDT

Greece, Turkey inaugurate joint natural gas pipeline project

ATHENS, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday inaugurated a joint project at the border of the two neighboring countries to build a natural gas pipeline between the two.

At a joint press conference held after a brief inauguration ceremony, Karamanlis said the project, which is partly funded by the European Union, is "full of symbolism and a step towards a better cooperation on trade, energy, transports and tourism."

The relationship between Greece and Turkey, once arch rivals, began to improve in 1999 after two devastating earthquakes struck Turkey and spawned major offers of help from Athens.

The two NATO allies have witnessed their bilateral relations warming up since then, although they still have unresolved disputes over Cyprus and territorial claims in the Aegean Sea.

For his part, Erdogan said the project is "of strategic importance" in the energy sector and a "strategic step" towards the further deepening of their bilateral relations.

"It's a historic project on the bridge that links our two peoples," he added.

The 300-km pipeline is designed to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan and other Caucasus producers to Italy and other European countries from 2006.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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