Roundup: Turkey, Azerbaijan agree to boost ties in key areas

Turkey and Azerbaijan decided to boost cooperation in trade, investment, energy, defense and transportation projects during the visit of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev to Ankara.

"Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) crude oil pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline represent the two most important cooperation (areas) of our countries," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

In a joint press briefing after the conclusion of 4th High Level Strategic Council meeting, Erdogan said both countries have agreed to attain a trade volume of 15 billion U.S. dollars by 2023.

"I believe there is a determination, resolution and political in both countries for that," he said, adding that the existing mechanism works successfully in promoting ties in politics, economy, trade, military, culture and education.

The trade volume between the two countries was 3.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2013. In the first 11 months of the year 2014, the latest available data from Turkish statistics agency, the volume was recorded as 2.3 billion U.S. dollars, slight decline from 2.5 billion U.S. dollars over the same period in 2013.

Trade volume is not the only indicator that the two nations share similar culture and linguistic characters.

Aliyev told reporters that Azeri investments in Turkey would reach 20 billion U.S. dollars by 2020 and Turkish companies have obtained some 10 billion U.S. dollars worth of contracts and tenders in Azerbaijan.

EUROPE'S BIGGEST INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

Azeri president also said energy cooperation between Baku and Ankara will deepen with the realization of the Southern Gas Corridor which will carry gas from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, connecting to the Trans-Anatolia natural gas pipeline (TANAP) via Georgia and reach southern Europe.

Noting that a consultation meeting on the future of the Southern Gas Corridor will take place next month in Baku, Aliyev said "TANAP is the backbone and the foundation of the Southern Gas Corridor."

Calling the Southern Gas Corridor project as Europe's biggest infrastructure project that is valued at 45 billion U.S. dollars in investment, Aliyev underlined that this is a strategic project.

Both countries signed the agreement on TANAP three years ago that will play a major role in energy diversification and security for Turkey and Europe.

TANAP, once completed, will transport 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II field across Turkey and eventually to Europe.

The pipeline is important for European energy security as Europe tries to wean itself off Russian energy sources.

RAILWAY LINK BETWEEN BEIJING AND LONDON

Another important project that is under construction between the countries is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line (BTK), a railway project connecting Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku to the eastern Turkish city of Kars.

Erdogan revealed that the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. "This means the line between Beijing and Istanbul will be opened," he added.

The line will have a new extension with the completion of Marmaray project which connects Istanbul's Asian and European sides via an undersea commuter train line. In other words, the railway link can extend to London through Marmaray in Istanbul.

The BTK will be one of the most important connections between Asia and Europe, with a line to be constructed between China and Kazakhstan's Aktau port over the Caspian Sea in the east. Marmaray already completes the west connection.

The line may eventually present new opportunities in the field of passenger and freight transportation. It will also become a part of the trans-Asian railroad line with the Baku-Caspian-Turkmenbasy-Almaty-China route.

AZERBAIJAN INVITED AT G-20

The Turkish president announced that Turkey as term president of the G-20 countries for 2015, decided to invite Azerbaijan as a guest to attend meetings of the world's major economies.

"This year, Azerbaijan will take its place as our guest," Erdogan said.

At the end of intergovernmental conference, two agreements were signed between the two countries, one customs cooperation and the other on sharing financial data for the purpose of fighting against financing of terrorism and money laundering.

ANKARA SUPPORTS BAKU ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Turkish president also reaffirmed Ankara continues to support Baku's position on Nagorno-Karabakh issue by saying that Turkey wants the matter resolved with respect to Azeri sovereignty and its territorial integrity.

Erdogan lamented that the Minsk process failed to implement resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh that were adopted by international bodies

Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and some adjacent territory have been under the control of Armenian soldiers and ethnic Armenian local troops since the end of a six-year separatist war in 1994.

Diplomatic efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict have failed over the past 20 years.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan. Ankara also helped modernize Azerbaijan military and boost its defense capabilities by entering joint cooperation in defense industry.

"We are purchasing so much arms and ammunitions from Turkey," Aliyev said, noting that they exchanged views on joint production opportunities for defense products with a view of boosting the defense cooperation further.

Both leaders decided to celebrate the centennial of Gallipoli wars on April 24 in Turkey's Canakkale province together.

Aliyev also met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday. Endit