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Austrian and Turkmen presidents discuss Nabucco project

14 October 2011 10:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Habil Suleymanzadeh - APA-Economics. Turkmenistan, courted by Europe as an alternative natural gas supplier able to cut its dependence on Russia, announced on Thursday it was getting down to business on building the Nabucco pipeline backed by the European Union.

Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, meeting his counterpart from Austria, the future hub from where gas from the Caspian region will flow deeper into Europe, was in an upbeat mood.

"Today we get down to work on the contractual and legal basis for supplying Turkmen energy to Europe," he said.
"We are inclined to hold a constructive energy dialogue with Europe and we invite Austria to participate in it in the most active and effective way," he said after talks with Austria’s Heinz Fischer.
"Turkmenistan is an important supplier of natural gas, while Europe is a reliable consumer. We must put this together on mutually beneficial terms," Fischer said. The Nabucco project is of priority significance for Austria," Fischer said, adding that top OMV managers were part of his delegation. "As far as I understood, you are optimistic about it," he said to Berdymukhamedov.

Turkmenistan has started building a $2 billion, 1,000-km (625-mile) East-West pipeline from South-Iolotan to the Caspian to be able to feed the Nabucco project, Berdymukhamedov said, adding that "construction works are proceeding at a quick pace".