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Turkish Premier, Putin, Berlusconi Open Blue Stream Gas Project

Posted on: Friday, 18 November 2005, 06:00 CST

Text of report in English by Turkish news agency Anatolia

Samsun, 17 November: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that Blue Stream Project was a result of cooperation.

Erdogan, President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi visited natural gas control facility at the Durusu Metering Station in northern city of Samsun. Officials from Gazprom briefed leaders on Blue Stream Natural Gas Project.

Delivering a speech in the ceremony held at the Durusu Metering Station for the inauguration of the Blue Stream Natural Gas Project, Erdogan noted that the first step of this project had been taken with an agreement signed between Turkey and Russia in 1997.

Noting that this project was the first ring of the chain of cooperation among the three countries, Erdogan expressed his belief that the three countries would also carry out many other projects in the future.

Erdogan indicated that he believed that Samsun-Ceyhan bypass oil pipeline project [Samsun and Ceyhan are in northern and southern Turkey respectively] which would transport Russian and Kazakh oil to the markets via the Mediterranean would be constructed with a similar cooperation in 2010s.

Stating that Samsun-Ceyhan by-pass oil pipeline would also diminish oil traffic at Turkish Straits, he underlined that Turkish government was ready to do what was necessary for this project.

Erdogan said that Turkey's energy strategy was prepared by taking into consideration of requirements of socio-economic improvement, which was planned with global and regional developments.

"We think that if our country becomes an energy corridor, it will contribute to regional peace," he stressed.

Source: BBC Monitoring European

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