POLITICS
Turkish PM congratulates Azerbaijan on election to UN Security Council
Baku, October 26 (AZERTAC).Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has congratulated Azerbaijan on election to the United Nations Security Council.
Tayyip Erdogan addressed the groundbreaking ceremony for a new refinery near Izmir on Turkey`s Mediterranean coast.
The refinery is to be built by Petkim, the largest petrochemicals company in Turkey, which is owned by an alliance of Turkish petroleum company Turcas and Azerbaijan`s state oil company SOCAR.
SOCAR has the controlling share in the joint venture.
Construction of the Ege Oil Refinery in Aliaga, near Izmir, is expected to cost $5bn. It will have the capacity to refine 10 million tones of oil per year.
The first part of the refinery is to come on stream in three years.
“As we know Azerbaijan has become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, and we offer our sincere congratulations to Azerbaijan. The brotherly country will be in this capacity for two years.”
The Turkish Premier added: “Together we have had a very successful activity, and we achieved this success.”
Azerbaijan has been elected a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council for 2012-2013 after Slovenia dropped out of a lengthy race for an East European seat on the 15-nation body.
The voting in the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly went to 16 ballots before Slovenia, trailing by 39 votes, pulled out. In one further ballot, Azerbaijan, now unopposed, had no difficulty winning the required two-thirds majority.