THESSALONIKI (Greece), September 10. /TASS/. Russia is interested in having joint ventures and in exchange of technologies with Greece, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on Saturday.

"We are interested in organization of joint ventures, in expanding the investments, in transfer of technologies which we could use," he said.

"If to speak about big projects, then first of all it is the energy sphere," he said. "Greece wants to be an important energy hub for Europe, first of all in gas... today we may say the restoration of cooperation with our Turkish counterparts allows us develop the Turkish Stream southern gas corridor, where one line may further on go from Turkey to Greece and then gas supplies will go to other European countries."

Earlier in an interview with the Rossiya24 television channel, Gazprom’s CEO Alexei Miller said the Turkish side had suggested considering gas supplies to Europe under the Turkish Stream project across the border with Greece.

Russia unveiled plans to build the Turkish Stream as a replacement for the South Stream pipeline in December 2014.

It was planned that the marine section of the Turkish Stream will consist of four lines, each with the capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters. The pipeline was to stretch by 660 km along the old corridor of the South Stream and by 250 km - in the new corridor in the direction of the European part of Turkey. The project’s total cost is estimated at 11.4 bln euros, the cost of the first line is seen at 4.3 bln euros.

It is expected that the gas supplied via the first line will be entirely intended to meet the growing needs of the Turkish market.

On December 1, 2014, Gazprom and Turkey’s Botas signed a memorandum of understanding on construction of the Turkish Stream with the capacity of 63 billion cubic meters of gas per year. In 2015, Russia’s Energy Ministry Alexander Novak said that at the first stage of construction would imply laying two lines of the pipeline.

Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that signing a draft intergovernmental agreement on the project is scheduled for October. The minister said the Turkish Stream’s first line is due to be ready by late 2019.