Turkey to be largest buyer of Russia gas

He said “Russia is one of main exporters of natural gas to Turkey”.

“At present, the volume of gas deliveries is 15 bullion cubic meters, and when the gas pipeline Blue Stream begins to operate to full capacity, this figure will increase to 30 billion cubic meters a year,” the ambassador said.

Thus “Turkey will come in the first place in buying natural gas from Russia,” the diplomat said.

Turkey is one of main investors in Russia.

The total amount of investment was 2 billion dollars in 2004 and the figure will increase to 2.5 billion dollars by the end of 2005, Tashkent said.

Turkey plans to invest 3 billion dollars in Russia in 2006, he said.

The diplomat called tourism the most dynamically developing sphere of cooperation between the two countries.

Tashkent said 57 percent of the Russians preferred Turkey for holidaying abroad.

In 2004, the number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey was 1.7 million and the figure is expected to be above 2 million this year, the ambassador said.