Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The joint projects being implemented by Azerbaijan and Turkey will make significant contribution to the development of strategic partnership between the two countries, President of SOCAR Turkey Enerji Kenan Yavuz said.

He noted one of such projects is the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) gas pipeline project.

TANAP, developed by SOCAR in collaboration with Turkish Botas and the energy company TPAO, will deliver Shah Deniz gas to the Turkish-Greek border from eastern Turkey.

The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 16 billion cubic meters of gas each year. TANAP will link up with Trans-Adriatic (TAP) pipeline on the Turkish-Greek border. About six billion cubic meters of gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest to Europe. The costs of the TANAP project are estimated at $10 billion to $11 billion.

Azerbaijan and Turkey's relations have always been strong due to their common culture and history and the mutual intelligibility of Turkish and Azerbaijani languages.

Turkey was the first country in the world to recognize Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 and has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity, and realize its economic potential that arises from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

Economic projects, jointly implemented by Azerbaijan and Turkey, are bringing these countries together and strengthening their cooperation. The two countries' economies and cooperation have reached a high level.

SOCAR is one of the world's most well-established oil companies, active in Turkey since May 30, 2008. SOCAR is involved in a number of major investment projects in Turkey, including the construction of TANAP, Star refinery, and others. The volume of investment of SOCAR in Turkey's economy will reach $5 billion by late 2014.

According to Azerbaijan’s State Statistics Committee, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to around $1.462 billion in January-October 2014.