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By Leman Mammadova

Greek Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Alexis Tsipras was on his visit to Turkey on February 5-6.

The visit mainly focuses on the development of trade relations between the two countries and the doubling of the trade volume .

Greek minister hopes to double the Turkish-Greek trade which reached $ 4.2 billion in 2018.

The highest level of trade between Turkey and Greece had reached 5.6 billion dollars in 2014. Products exported to Greece include automotive and supply industry, white goods, television, healthcare equipment, renewable energy, textile and apparel, leather, furniture, hotel equipment, ceramics.

Prior to his visit to Turkey, Tsipras told Anadolu agency that it is necessary to formulate conditions for the historical steps in the Turkish-Greek relations.

Tsipras assessed bilateral relations and stressed that Greece is in favor of a dialogue with Turkey that meets the interests of peoples and the region in general.

Minister also expressed his trust in effective cooperation between Ankara and Athens. He noted that there are positive results of cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy.

“We promoted cooperation in the energy sector with the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) pipeline and with the discussion on the extension of the Turkish Stream pipeline to Europe, we initiated the procedures for the start of a Thessaloniki-Izmir sea route, the Istanbul-Thessaloniki railway link and the improvement of the Kipi-Ipsala crossing, while we put the development of trade and investments on the negotiating table once again,” said Tsipras.

The Prime Minister also stressed that Turkey has taken over the great burden of hosting 4 million refugees. “The world community should take into consideration this fact and EU should do all it can to support our neighbor,” he said.

Tsipras also noted that his relationship with Erdogan is based on respect, sincerity, and honesty.

“We must build a relationship of mutual respect that is based on international law, for the benefit of our peoples and the surrounding region,” said Tsipras. He also recalled that Erdogan was the first Turkish leader to visit Greece.

Earlier, Tsipras stated that the Southern Gas Corridor, also covering TAP, is of primary importance for Greece and is included in the EU's energy strategy.

The TAP is planned to be connected to the Greece-Macedonia line, as well as the Greece-Bulgaria interconnection line, for the delivery of gas to the Western Balkan countries.

The TAP and Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which envisage transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, have been named among important international energy projects of Greece, according to the Greek Integrated Energy and Climate Plan for the Period from 2021 to 2030.

The plan includes the following important international energy projects: TAP, IGB, Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) pipeline, East Med and others.

IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.

The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.

Estimated at 4.5 billion euros, TAP is a part of Southern Gas Corridor project, that envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz-2 gas field to Greece and southern Italy across the Adriatic Sea through Greece and Albania, and involves designing, construction and operation of the natural gas pipeline.

About 82.4 percent of TAP pipeline construction works were implemented.

TAP expects to fully complete Greek section in 2019. Recently, TAP AG and DESFA SA which is responsible for the management, operation, maintenance and development of the National Natural Gas System (NNGS) of Greece, have signed an agreement on the maintenance of Greek section (550 km) of the TAP pipeline, extending from Kipoi in Evros close to the Greek-Turkish border, to Ieropigi, Kastoria, on Greece’s border with Albania.

On May 29, Baku hosted the launch ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project.

The Intergovernmental Agreement on the TAP project was signed by Albania, Italy and Greece in February 2013. The 878-kilometer-long TAP pipeline (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers) having connected to the TANAP on the Turkish-Greek border, will run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.

In November, TAP and TANAP successfully completed their connection on the banks of the Merich River on the Turkish-Greek border.

The initial capacity of TAP will be 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year with the possibility of doubling it.

TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).

The TAP project is one of the strategic objectives of the EU in the energy security and diversification of energy sources, chosen as the shortest and direct way to export natural gas from Azerbaijan to the European markets.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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