MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to create a gas hub in Turkey is realistic an can be implemented, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez said during the Russian Energy Week forum.
"This proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin must be comprehensively discussed. But I will say that it can be implemented. Russia has already implemented successful infrastructure projects before," he said.
Donmez noted that "it is currently too early to say if Turkey knows how to implement it exactly, because it is a new proposal" for Ankara.
"We must discuss legal, economy any technical moments. Turkey is working very actively with Russia. As you know, Russia has implemented major technological projects in Turkey before. We are very reliable partners," the Minister said.
He noted that Turkey has long-term gas agreements with regional countries.
"We faced no problems from our suppliers. There were complicated periods, but Russia has always remained a reliable supplier. I am grateful to the Russian colleagues for maintaining such stability," Donmez noted.
Speaking at the forum earlier, Putin noted that Russia intends to expand its gas supply geography and will "deploy the commodity on global markets." He proposed to redirect the lost transit volumes from the Nord Streams to the Black Sea. According to the Russian leader, this will make possible to create the main gas supply route to Europe through Turkey. To that extent, he proposed to establish the largest gas hub for Europe in Turkey.