Turkey, Romania eager for energy cooperation

Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül during a meeting yesterday reaffirmed their will to improve the two countries’ political and economic cooperation.

Speaking at a joint press conference after their meeting in Ankara, Gül mentioned that it was Ungureanu’s first visit to Turkey with his Foreign Ministry title. He said relations between Turkey and Romania have been making “extremely good progress” as trade volume between both countries has reached $3 billion and Turkish investment in Romania has reached $800 million.

“The better we can develop the infrastructure of regional cooperation, the better it will be for our people,” Anatolia quoted Gül as saying. He said joint projects in the energy sector were also on the agenda of their meeting.

Both ministers focused on what cooperation could be improved particularly in the electricity, oil and natural gas sectors, said Ungureanu.

Romania is aiming to join the European Union in 2007, and have promised to share their good and bad experiences with Turkey during the EU process. “We’ve decided to set up direct communication which is open, friendly and not official,” said Ungureanu.

Romania has been rotating the term presidency of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) and the next summit will gather in Romania on May 9-10, said Gül adding that both countries will be in contact for summit preparations.