Important issues to be discussed at high council of strategic cooperation Turkey-Azerbaijan

On November 12-13, 2013 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will pay an official visit to Turkey at the invitation of Turkish President, reads official web site of the Turkish President.

Official web site of the Turkish President reads that the 3rd session of the High Council of Strategic Cooperation “Turkey-Azerbaijan” will take place during the visit under the chairmanship of Ilham Aliyev and Turkish Premier Rejep Tayip Erdogan. 

During the visit Azerbaijani President will have official meetings with the Turkish President Abdulla Gul and Turkish Premier Rejep Tayip Erdogan.

Turkish President is expected to decorate Azerbaijani President with the state order.

“During the 3rd session of the High Council of Strategic Cooperation “Turkey-Azerbaijan” the two countries will discuss the issues on the agenda, sign agreements and protocols related to cooperation in various fields and discuss regional and international cooperation,” reads the statement.

* The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkey reaches $3 billion a year. Energy plays an important role in the economic ties between the countries. Since 2006 the countries have put into operation the main export pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) with the carrying capacity of 60 million tons a year, though it has been working at half of its capacity. Since July 3, 2007 Turkey has been importing gas from the Shah-Deniz Phase 1 field. During this period it has imported 25 billion cub.m. of gas from Azerbaijan. In 2012 Turkey signed a new gas purchase-sale agreement with Azerbaijan as a part of the Shah-Deniz Phase 2. According to the document, since 2018 Turkey will buy additional 6 billion cub.m. of Azerbaijani gas a year. During 2012 Turkey imported 4 billion cub.m. of gas from Azerbaijan. In 2014 SOCAR will begin construction of the trans-Anadolu gas pipeline (TANAP) on the territory of Turkey, which will be 1790 km long. Its carrying capacity will be 16 billion cub.m. and it will cost over $10 billion. Next year SOCAR will also begin construction of oil refinery in Izmir, Turkey, with the capacity of 10 million tons and cost of $5.3 billion. It will be put into operation till 2018.—0--