Turkey Remains Very Important for Europe's Energy Security, Says EU

Turkey remains an important country for Europe’s energy security, EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete and Turkish Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, Berat Albayrak, said in a joint statement.

Cañete and Albayrak held their Turkey-EU High Level Energy Dialogue in Istanbul on 28 January.

Both sides agreed to continue to further cooperate on securing and diversifying energy supply sources as well as ensuring that supply meets demand under the competitive market conditions. In the meeting, issues that are important for Turkey and the EU were discussed including gas, nuclear safety, energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

“Both sides underlined the importance of Turkey as a key country for EU’s energy security and as a regional energy hub, and they re-affirmed their joint commitment to the successful implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor. Its timely completion is critical so as to allow gas flowing to Europe by 2020,” the joint statement read.

The two parties discussed the availability of natural gas resources in the Caspian region and stressed the importance for continued discussions in order to ensure additional Caspian gas capacity into the Southern Gas Corridor.

According to the joint statement, Turkey is ready to fulfil its responsibilities in terms of contributing to EU’s security of supply through various pipeline and interconnection projects. The idea was discussed to work together more closely in order to optimize natural gas supply to Turkey and through Turkey to the EU and improve storage and LNG capacity that will contribute to Turkey’s position as a regional gas hub in the medium and long term.

It was decided that these topics will be further explored in the near future with a view to reinforcing the energy security of both the EU and Turkey.