The European Union and Turkey aim to sign an agreement at the beginning of next year on the transit of gas through the Nabucco pipeline, which would bring natural gas from Central Asia to Europe, the European Commission said Thursday.
"Turkey and the E.U. will work to conclude an intergovernmental agreement for the Nabucco project, with the aim of finalizing this document for signature in Turkey in January 2009," the commission said in a statement, after E.U. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs met Turkey's political leaders.
The Nabucco pipeline, a planned EUR5 billion, 3,300-kilometer pipeline connecting eastern Turkey to Austria, is key to exploiting more gas from Central Asia and the Middle East and secure alternatives for E.U. gas supply, easing its reliance on Russia.