Turkey And E.U. Have Taken Very Important Political Decision About Energy

ISTANBUL - Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler said on Tuesday that Turkey and European Union (EU) had taken a very important political decision about energy.
Guler, who returned from Greece where he attended Southeast Europe Regional Energy Market (SEE-REM) meeting, told reporters that they worked on liberalization of electricity and natural gas markets and security and diversification of energy resources.
A memorandum of understanding was signed at the end of the meeting, Guler said.
Guler noted that legal arrangements would be made regarding their decision on energy and efforts would have been completed by the end of 2004.
He, Greek minister and EU commissioner had a trilateral meeting on transfer of natural gas via Turkey to Greece and then to European countries, Guler stated.
Guler pointed out that Turkey had an active role in energy issues.
Noting that amount of natural gas to be transferred to Greece would be increased till one billion cubic meters, Guler said, ''the current need of Europe is 100 billion cubic meters. Therefore, Turkey will not only play an important role as a bridge but also gain money from this transfer. I also met with Bulgarian Energy Minister about diversification of energy resources and use of cheaper energy.''
Asked when natural gas flow to Greece over Turkey would start, Guler said, ''the most important point here is the Shah Deniz Project. This is our national project. This is a project which we attach importance and consider a sine qua non. This project will be put into practice in 2006. But, there are other sources who want to sell gas to Greece via Turkey and for which EU has an interest. They are not only waiting for Shah Deniz Project but also think of purchasing gas from Iran. We continue these talks. We never ignore interests of our country and the consumers.''
(BRC-AÖ) 09.12.2003