ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that some defined the Nabucco project as a dream, but he believes it will be a success story.
"Do not forget that once the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project was also defined as dream, too," Erdogan told the Nabucco Summit that gathered heads of state and government for an intergovernmental accord in the Turkish capital Ankara.
Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria will sign a landmark agreement on the 3,300-kilometer pipeline that will carry Caspian and Central Asian natural gas to Austria in Europe to reduce EU dependence on Russian gas. Nearly 2,000 kilometers of the pipeline will run in Turkey.
Erdogan said things has just started after the agreement.
"A new period begins today and it requires hard work for both participating countries and the Nabucco multinational company," Erdogan said.
"I believe that Nabucco would give momentum to other projects. We sincerely hope that other significant gas producer countries in the Caspian region and the Middle East, especially Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iraq and Egypt, would joint the European energy security plan," he said.
"We want Iranian gas to be carried to Europe through Nabucco pipeline when conditions are met. We also believe that it will be possible one day to offer Russian gas to European market through Nabucco. In fact, it is also possible for Qatar to take part in the project thanks to a liquified natural gas terminal to be set up in Turkey," he added.