Gul - Tazhin Joint News Conference

-GUL: "WE ARE DETERMINED TO COOPERATE IN ENERGY"

ANKARA - "There are great cooperation opportunities between Turkey and Kazakhstan in the area of energy. We are determined to cooperate with Kazakhstan to this end," Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Thursday.
Gul met Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin of Kazakhstan, who is currently paying an official visit to Turkey.
Holding a joint news conference following the meeting, Gul said, "we attach great importance to our bilateral relations with Kazakhstan. Recently, Kazakhstan has become the rising star of Asia. As a result, amount of foreign investments in Kazakhstan has increased considerably."
Referring to economic and commercial relations between Turkey and Kazakhstan, Gul said, "our trade volume exceeded 1.5 billion USD recently. Turkish businessmen and contractors have undertaken a series of important projects in this country. On the other hand, Kazakh businessmen has begun investing in Turkey in the sectors of banking and tourism."
Gul stressed that they were planning to complete the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline this year.
"We also cooperate with Kazakhstan in the fight against terrorism. We will continue supporting Kazakhstan in international platforms. We support Kazakhstan`s candidacy to the rotating presidency of Organization of the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)," Gul added.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Tazhin of Kazakhstan said in his part that they considered Turkey one of the most important partners of Kazakhstan in Middle East and Asia.
He added that the trade volume between Turkey and Kazakhstan increased by 60 percent in 2006.