The European Commission said Thursday it has opened negotiations with Turkey on the country's accession to a multilateral agreement that would align its rules on energy with those of the European Union.
"Turkey is carrying out fundamental reforms in order to address its huge energy challenge," Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said in a statement. "I hope that the negotiations will proceed swiftly and could be concluded in the coming months."
The Energy Community Treaty accord entered into force in 2006 in an effort to conform rules in the field of energy across the 27-country bloc, thus facilitating investments and increase security of supply.
Turkey is a key country for Europe's energy policy and security, as the E.U. aims at diversifying its gas supplies away from Russia and exploiting the huge reserves of the Caspian, Central Asia and Middle East.
Balkan countries, including Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia are parties to the treaty, while countries such as Turkey, Ukraine, Norway and Georgia are observers.