Top EU officials to visit Turkey early next month

Olli Rehn and Andris Pielbags, EU commissioners for enlargement and energy, are scheduled to pay an official visit to Ankara on October 10 to hold talks with high-level Turkish officials. During their visit, Rehn and Pielbags will be received by President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and will also meet with Foreign Minister and Chief Negotiator for the EU talks Ali Babacan. Rehn and Pielbags' talks are expected to focus on Turkey's EU reforms, the Cyprus issue and NABUCCO natural gas pipeline project as part of energy supply security of the union. The NABUCCO project will transport Caspian Sea natural gas to Europe via Turkey in an effort to reduce the bloc's energy dependence on Russia.