Ankara has made a positive decision to resume the projects of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press-conference with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan Aug. 9, Sputnik International reported.
“We have discussed major joint projects in the fields of energy whose resumption require political decisions,” Putin said. “The Turkish side has already taken corresponding decisions on the Akkuyu nuclear power plant construction and the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.”
Russia and Turkey signed an agreement to construct and operate Turkey’s first nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu site in the Turkish southern Mersin Province in May 2010. The plant is expected to produce about 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year.
The Turkish Stream pipeline project to deliver Russian natural gas to Southern Europe via Turkey may get underway in the near future, Putin said.
“We have initially considered the Turkish Stream not as an alternative to the South Stream, but as an opportunity to expand our cooperation in the area of gas supplied both with Europe and with Turkey,” Putin said.