The Nabucco Intergovernmental Agreement, a substantial milestone in the realization of the Nabucco Natural Gas Pipeline Project which bears significance for the energy security of Turkey and Europe, will be signed during a ceremony to be held in Ankara on 13 July 2009.

The Intergovernmental Agreement negotiations were initiated in January this year with the participation of the State Parties, namely, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, including Germany as well as the European Commission as a facilitator. The negotiations on the agreement were successfully finalized at the seventh round of talks last month.

Contributing to Europe’s energy security and, in this regard, becoming Europe’s fourth main artery in natural gas constitute some of the substantial elements of our energy strategy. The initial concrete step in this direction was taken by the launching of the Turkey-Greece Natural Gas Interconnector in 2007. The Nabucco Natural Gas Pipeline will help us in reaching these goals as it will vastly contribute to the strengthening of, particularly, Eastern Europe’s energy security through route and source diversification. Furthermore, the Nabucco project is expected to bring a new dimension to our relations, based on mutual trust and cooperation, with the European Union.

On the occasion of the signing ceremony of the Intergovernmental Agreement, a Summit Meeting will be organized in Ankara on 13 July 2009 with the participation of natural gas producer, consumer and transit countries. During the Summit, there will be an exchange of views on the provision of natural gas to the Nabucco project by the source countries and on the potential related projects.