Category: Asia and Pacific

Azerbaijan, Turkey Presidents hold phone conversation

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 29 / Trend /

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on Saturday made a telephone call to Turkish President Abdullah Gul, the press-service of Azerbaijani President reported.

The Head of State congratulated Abdullah Gul on his birthday and the Republic Day of Turkey, and wished him robust health and successes in his presidential activities, and the friendly and fraternal people of Turkey prosperity.

The Turkish leader thanked President Ilham Aliyev for his attention and congratulations.

The Presidents expressed satisfaction with development of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey in all fields.

They underlined the importance of the Azerbaijani President`s last visit to Turkey and documents signed during the trip for expansion of bilateral cooperation even more.

The Heads of State expressed confidence relationship between the two countries would continue to strengthen.

via Azerbaijan, Turkey Presidents hold phone conversation – Trend.

October 30, 2011
BP Azerbaijan head: Gas agreements between Azerbaijan and Turkey to help open Southern Gas Corridor to Europe

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.28 / Trend E.Ismayilov /

The Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Turkey have signed a number of key gas export related agreements to enable Turkey to buy gas from Azerbaijan and to transit Azerbaijan gas through Turkey to Europe, official website of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) reports.

According to the report, the documents signed in Izmir (Turkey) on Tuesday, October 25, included an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the Government of Azerbaijan and the Government of Turkey, Gas Sales Agreements between SOCAR and BOTAS and also between the Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company (AGSC) and BOTAS International Limited (BIL), a Gas Transit Agreement between SOCAR and BOTAS and a Framework Agreement (FA) setting the general terms and conditions for transit of gas sourced from Azerbaijan through the territory of Turkey. The IGA and FA contemplate transit through Turkey either via an upgrade to the existing BOTAS transmission network or via the development of a new-build pipeline across Turkey.

The execution of the documents was witnessed by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan H.E. Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The documents were signed by the Minister of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan Natig Aliyev and the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Taner Yildiz, as well as SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev, the President for the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey Region of BP and the Operator of Shah Deniz field, Rashid Javanshir and General Manager of BOTAS Fazil Senel.

The agreements provide a legal framework to regulate the sale of Shah Deniz gas to Turkey and its transportation to European markets through Turkey, the website reports.

“We are pleased to finalise the signing of these key agreements between Azerbaijan and Turkey that will lead to Shah Deniz full field development and delivery of Stage 2 gas from Azerbaijan’s giant field in the Caspian Sea to Turkey and European markets. This is a significant step that has been achieved by the two Governments with support from all parties involved including the Shah Deniz consortium. We believe the success of all efforts that have brought us to today’s achievement lies in the close partnership among the three key parties – the Government of Azerbaijan, the Government of Turkey and the Shah Deniz consortium. This partnership has been a key element in everything accomplished so far and will continue to be a driving force to move Shah Deniz to the stage when it will safely and reliably supply Azerbaijan gas to Turkey and Europe,” SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said.

Speaking on behalf of the Shah Deniz consortium Rashid Javanshir, President for the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey Region of BP, said: “We welcome the successful signing of the Shah Deniz gas sales and transit agreements, and the Inter-Governmental Agreement between Azerbaijan and Turkey. We believe these agreements will help open a Southern Gas Corridor to Europe and link Azerbaijan and Turkey with yet another strategic partnership. They will support the continued development of Shah Deniz 2 project towards a final investment decision and development of Turkey as an energy hub for Europe. The signing of these agreements will also allow Shah Deniz to proceed with its European pipeline selection process, and to confirm gas sales agreements with potential customers. ‪

On behalf of the co-venturers we would like to congratulate Azerbaijan and Turkey on reaching these extremely important agreements”.

Shah Deniz Stage 2, or Full Field Development (FFD), is a giant project that will bring gas from Azerbaijan to Europe and Turkey. This will increase gas supply and energy security to European markets through the opening of the new Southern Gas Corridor.

The project is expected to add a further 16 billion cubic meters per year (bcma) of gas production to the approximately 9 bcma from Shah Deniz Stage 1. “It is one of the largest gas development projects anywhere in the world,” the website reports.

Plans for the project include two new bridge-linked offshore platforms; 26 subsea wells to be drilled with 2 semi-submersible rigs; 500 km of subsea pipelines built at up to 550m water depth; additional export capacity in Azerbaijan and Georgia; expansion of the Sangachal Terminal.

“Proposals for the transportation of gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe are now being evaluated by the Shah Deniz consortium with an award expected around the end of the year,” the report says.

Proposals were submitted by October 1 from Nabucco, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline and IGI-Poseidon.

In addition, the Shah Deniz project team are also evaluating a fourth potential export option which would transport gas to markets in South-Eastern Europe through a system of regional existing and future interconnector infrastructure.

The partners in Shah Deniz are: BP Operator (25.5 per cent), Statoil (25.5 per cent), SOCAR (10 per cent), Total (10 per cent), Lukoil (10 per cent), NICO (10 per cent) and TPAO (9 per cent).

via BP Azerbaijan head: Gas agreements between Azerbaijan and Turkey to help open Southern Gas Corridor to Europe – Trend.

October 29, 2011
The Istanbul conference: Washington’s vision for the region

By Shahbaz Rana

Published: October 28, 2011

Pakistan is now left with the choice of either aligning themselves more closely with China, or preferring to work with the New Silk Roads

ISLAMABAD:

As key world and regional players gear up to meet in Istanbul to push forward a Washington-backed regional integration plan for an ‘economically stable Afghanistan’, Pakistan stands at a crossroads. The question Islamabad is grappling with is whether it’s time to become a partner, or whether it should maintain its historical position – keep India away from resource-rich Central Asia.

As part of a broader economic integration strategy, Washington is selling the “New Silk Roads” concept- a network of roads and rails to connect Far East Asia and South Asia with Central Asia and then the West.

Leaders from 12 nations are to meet in Istanbul on November 2 with the stated objective of persuading regional players to commit to a stable and independent Afghanistan and to discuss regional economic cooperation. Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, USA and United Kingdom are to attend.

Political pundits have termed the Istanbul Conference a prelude to the Bonn Conference, where delegations from 90 countries are expected to formulate a practical roadmap for 2014 – the year the US has said it will withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

Defence, economic and geostrategic experts say the broader objective of the strategy is to consolidate gains made in Afghanistan and strengthen the US grip on Central Asian resources to be used either by Americans or preferred partners like India. One of the objectives is to create hurdles in energy-hungry China’s bid to get unrestricted access to Central Asian resources, they add. Pakistan is now left with the choice of either aligning themselves more closely with China, or preferring to work with the New Silk Roads as the dichotomy grows stronger.

According to the United States Institute of Peace, a Congress-funded think tank, there are hopes that the New Silk Roads concept of an integrated trade and transportation network through Afghanistan can bring regional players and interlocutors together and attract new sources of investment.

Long time coming

A senior government functionary said that the US has been working on the proposal for a longer time. He said that the reorganisation of the US State Department in 2004 when it merged its Central Asia and South Asia desks was an important step towards this direction. Robin Raphael, former US ambassador to Pakistan on civilian assistance, has been assigned the New Silk Roads project.

Pakistan’s options

“Americans want to consolidate gains in Afghanistan whether Pakistan readily becomes partner to the new concept or not,” said Tanvir Ahmed Khan, former secretary of foreign affairs. On the other hand, Washington will be displeased if Pakistan refuses to give India access to Afghanistan, fearing the possibility of an alternative India-Iran nexus, envisaged by New Delhi as the “North silk route”. Khan maintains that it would be in Pakistan’s interest to become partner in any regional arrangement, better sooner than later.

A senior official of the foreign office, however, took a cautious line on whether Islamabad would support the initiative. Without commenting on the New Silk Roads, the official said: “Regional connectivity is a centuries-old concept and Pakistan would appreciate any effort towards that objective”.

Another official said that Pakistan wanted a greater role in economic development of Afghanistan, and did not want caught in the uncomfortable position of being isolated while sandwiched between India and Afghanistan.

But for the US, he added, the New Silk Roads is an integral part of a three-pronged strategy designed to exit and integrate post-US Afghanistan with the rest of the region. Keeping this in mind, Pakistan will have to mend its ways and make up its mind in the next two years, he said.

Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also spoke on the matter hesitantly, saying “Pakistan will have to see both the advantages and disadvantages of becoming a partner in the New Silk Roads concept,” he added.

Pros and cons

The obvious advantage is that regional economic integration would bring economic benefits – but then, there’s the issue of Indian involvement and New Delhi’s subsequent access to Central Asia, he added. Qureshi said that the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement was signed on the condition of excluding India from the treaty. However, Tanvir Khan said Pakistan will ultimately have to give India access. He was of the view that eventually, even China will have to be taken on board.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2011.

via The Istanbul conference: Washington’s vision for the region – The Express Tribune.

October 29, 2011
Turkey plans to take action against Armenian plant

Ali Kayalar

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız says Turkey’s debut nuclear plant will be the strongest building in the country. AA photo.

Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has said he ordered the country’s nuclear authority to measure radioactivity in the east after the deadly earthquake in Van province for fear of leaks from a nuclear plant in Armenia.

“I asked the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority to immediately conduct tests,” Yıldız told a group of journalists in Ankara while speaking at a reception to mark the 50th anniversary of the Hürriyet Daily News.

Turkey is preparing to take legal action against all superannuated nuclear power plants across the world, including Metzamor in Armenia, the minister said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will receive from Turkey complaints about dozens of nuclear plants across the world that have already exceed an age of 40, Yıldız said.

“Some countries are announcing that they are putting an end to nuclear power and closing superannuated plants, but they are continuing to build new ones,” he said. “This is not right.”

However, the minister declined to specify any country by name.

Siemens, Germany’s biggest nuclear energy company, was turning the page on nuclear energy, the group’s chief executive told the Der Spiegel weekly in September.

The government in Germany had earlier announced it will withdraw from nuclear energy after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan caused by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that took more than 20,000 lives.

Turkey’s to-be-built nuclear plant near the town of Akkuyu in the southern province of Akkuyu would be “the strongest building in the country,” Yıldız said. As risk grows, security measures grow too, he said.

“We will invest some $20 billion there. It will become an important part of the overall energy system and we will still bear risks. Sorry, but neither the state nor the private sector would take such a risk. One should be crazy, otherwise. We will not let it happen. No need to worry about it.”

Russian state-owned nuclear power company ROSATOM is the contractor for the project.

The country plans two more power plants, one in the northern province of Sinop and another in the Thracian region but talks with contractors for these projects were interrupted by the Fukushima accident.

via Turkey plans to take action against Armenian plant – Hurriyet Daily News.

October 28, 2011
Armenia To Send Relief Aid To Turkey

Turkey — Earthquake survivors stand in front of a damaged building in Ercis, 26Oct2011

27.10.2011

Armenia said on Thursday that it will send a planeload of humanitarian aid to survivors of a powerful earthquake in southeastern Turkey that killed more than 500 people and left thousands of others homeless.

The Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations announced that a transport plane hired by it will deliver 40 tons of tents, sleeping bags, blankets and other aid to the western Turkish city of Izmir on Friday.

A ministry statement said that the Turkish government requested such assistance through the Turkish Red Crescent Society and NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center.

The Armenian government offered to send relief aid and rescuers immediately after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the area around the Turkish city of Van on Sunday. President Serzh Sarkisian reiterated the offer in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul the following day.

With the epicenter of the quake located only 150 kilometers south of the Turkish-Armenian border, strong and unusually long tremors were also felt in much of Armenia. But they caused no devastation.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday thanked foreign nations offering help, including Armenia and Israel, but said Turkey can cope with the disaster by itself.

Erdogan’s government has since faced growing accusations of neglect or

ineptitude from scores of earthquake survivors whose homes were destroyed or seriously damaged by the quake.

Reports from the disaster zone spoke on Thursday of an acute shortage of tents badly needed by thousands of people sleeping in the open in freezing temperatures.

Answering Turkey’s call for help to supply tents, prefabricated housing and containers, foreign aid began pouring in with the first planeloads landing from France, Ukraine and Israel, Reuters news agency reported. Both Israel and Armenia have poor relations with Turkey.

via Armenia To Send Relief Aid To Turkey.

October 28, 2011
Istanbul to host conference on Armenia-Turkey relations

PanARMENIAN.Net – On October 29-30, Istanbul will host a conference titled Normalization of Armenian-Turkish Relations: Revival Perspectives, according to Regional Studies Center (RSC) director.

As Richard Giragosian told a news conference in Yerevan, the conference will focus on Armenia-Turkey rapprochement, prospects of furthering of bilateral ties, development dynamics of political situation in South Caucasus.

The conference is organized by Middle East Technical University and TOBB University of Economics and Technology and supported by the Center for Strategic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.

via Istanbul to host conference on Armenia-Turkey relations – PanARMENIAN.Net.

October 28, 2011