Energy ties top agenda of PM's Azerbaijan visit

Bilateral economic relations between Ankara and Baku – particularly the natural gas trade - are likely to top the agenda of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's talks with Azerbaijani officials during his two-day visit to the Turkic country, which is scheduled will kick off today. Gabala will be the first stop on Erdogan's visit, as the city will be hosting a meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, which will be co-chaired by Erdogan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev. Erdogan will also visit the city of Shaki. Decisions made during last year's meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council held in the Aegean city of Izmir and the progress made so far by the working groups established during that meeting will be reviewed in Gabala, Anatolia news agency reported yesterday, citing anonymous sources. Measures aimed at increasing the trade volume between the two countries will also be discussed. A deal signed between the two capitals in June to build the $7 billion Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline (TANAP), which will carry Caspian gas to Turkey's west, is also among the most important agenda items during Erdogan's visit, Anatolia also said. Turkey and Europe attach great importance to the TANAP project, as part of their efforts to diversify their gas imports mainly from Russia. The EU and Moscow are currently at odds over a new EU probe into Russia's Gazprom.