Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Putin-Erdogan Tag Team World

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Putin-Erdogan Tag Team World

    PUTIN-ERDOGAN TAG TEAM WORLD

    New Europe
    http://www.neurope.eu/articles/98505.php
    Ja n 18 2010

    Following the meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
    and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in Moscow on 13 January,
    Moscow and Ankara have come closer to building a "key" strategic
    partnership by agreeing to deepen cooperation.

    Putin said that Russia has won Turkish support for all its major oil,
    gas and nuclear projects. He told a news conference after talks with
    Erdogan that Ankara had pledged to fully clear Russia's South Stream
    before November 2010, when building is due to begin. "We have an
    agreement that before November 10, 2010 ... the Turkish government
    will make all the necessary judgments and issue a construction permit.

    In the course of today's talks Mr Erdogan confirmed these intentions,"
    Putin said. "I very much hope this work will be finished as planned,"
    he said, adding that the work on South Stream was going according
    to plan with environmental, geological and seismic studies near
    completion.

    Putin also said the project, which apart from Russia's gas
    export monopoly Gazprom involves Italy's ENI, may benefit from an
    inter-governmental agreement between Russia, Turkey and Italy.

    Putin also said the governments of Italy, Turkey and Russia should
    consider signing a deal to support the proposed Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline,
    an oil link between Turkey's Black Sea coast and the Mediterranean. He
    said cooperation between the two states should involve asset swaps
    between major firms and added Russian firms were ready to take part
    in privatization of Turkey's state assets.

    Both Putin and Erdogan pledged to increase the use of national
    currencies in bilateral trade, currently at $15.3 billion, which the
    leaders want to boost to $100 billion within the next five years.

    Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Russian Deputy Prime Minister
    Igor Sechin also signed a memorandum on building nuclear power plants
    in Turkey in a sign Russian firms would be given a second chance to
    build Ankara's first plant.

    The meeting between Putin and Erdogan was the first one in a range
    of meetings that can both directly and indirectly affect advances
    in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, Putin told Erdogan that
    Turkey should not link the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region
    of Azerbaijan populated by ethnic Armenians who are now in control
    of the area, to its bilateral relations with Armenia. "Both the
    Nagorno-Karabakh problem and the Turkish-Armenian problem are very
    complicated by nature. I do not think it is a right thing to tie them
    into one package," Putin said. "It is unwise from both tactical and
    strategic point of view to package these problems," he added.

    Resolution of the conflict should facilitate the transfer of
    hydrocarbons in the region.

    "Our relations are developing and becoming more diversified in the
    political, military, economic and cultural spheres. What is exciting
    for me is that both sides have a positive will," to further boost ties,
    Erdogan said.

    Erdogan, who had talks with Putin and Russian President Dmitry
    Medvedev during his one-day visit to Moscow, announced that the two
    countries will start work on abolishing visa requirements for their
    nationals. "The prime minister (Putin) has just given us the good
    news that efforts to mutually abolish the visa requirements will
    go forward as planned," Erdogan said, adding that the Turkish side
    hoped that a final deal would be concluded during an upcoming visit
    by Medvedev in May or June.

    Erdogan said later in Istanbul that the two countries would also hold
    a strategic cooperation council meeting during Medvedev's visit,
    a cooperation platform similar to the ones Turkey launched with
    neighboring Syria and Iraq last year.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X