BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The creation of key regional energy transit networks like Nabucco will create new areas of cooperation for Turkey and its Caspian partners, officials say.
Turkey is emerging as a regional energy hub following a series of high-profile transit agreements.
Ankara hosted a regional summit in July, overseeing the signing of a milestone intergovernmental agreement on the $10.3 billion Nabucco gas pipeline. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Aug. 6 emerged from a meeting with officials in Ankara with an agreement to host the South Stream pipeline in the Turkish territorial waters in the Black Sea.
Apart from recent deals, a portion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the second longest in the world, crosses its territory to ports on the Mediterranean Sea.
In an interview with the Trend news agency in Azerbaijan, Atilla Gunay, the Turkish envoy to Kazakhstan, highlighted Ankara's role as a key energy partner to the Caspian region.
"The main goal of our energy strategy is to strengthen the transit role of our country on the axis of the East-West and North-South, as well as transform Turkey into the energy center of the region," he said.
He said the unique position of Turkey as a bridge between the East and West created new avenues for improved regional relations.
"All above-mentioned projects on transportation of Caspian hydrocarbon resources to world markets through alternative and reliable routes assume great significance both in terms of suppliers and consumer countries," he said.
