TURKEY, GREECE AND ITALY TO SIGN GAS PIPELINE DEAL
Greece, Turkey and Italy will sign the contract this week in Rome on constructing a pipeline to transport natural gas from Central Asia to European markets by 2011, Greek Development Minister, Dimitris Sioufas said.
D. Sioufas said he would travel Thursday to Rome to sign the deal, which also will be signed by Turkish and Italian officials.
The Greek minister went on to say the issues regarding the transportation of Azerbaijan`s natural gas to the Western Europe via the territories of Turkey and Greece would be discussed in Rome as well. He added that this issue was of strategic importance for Europe and Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis pays much attention to this issue.
The Turkish-Greek link, initially planned to be finished in June, is now expected to begin operating in late August, while construction on the Greek-Italian connector — owned by Italy`s Edison and Greece`s DEPA — is expected to begin next year.
The pipeline network would include a 212-kilometer undersea connection from Greece to Italy, and is expected to carry 11.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year into Greece, most of it for re-export.
The Greek minister stressed that agreements reached during a visit to Athens by Azerbaijan`s Economic Development Minister Heydar Babayev this month guarantees a successful realization of these projects.
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