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ANKARA (AFP)--The prime ministers of four European Union
countries and Turkey signed here Monday a deal to build a major gas
pipeline reducing European reliance on Russian supplies.
Prime ministers Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Sergey Stanishev
of Bulgaria, Emil Boc of Romania, Gordon Bajnai of Hungary and
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann inked the intergovernmental
deal, a landmark in the long-delayed Nabucco pipeline project, amid
uncertainty on who will supply the gas.
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso also took part in
the signing ceremony.
Erdogan said the legal framework for the construction of the
pipeline would be completed once the Nabucco consortium signs
separate agreements with all five participant countries within a
targeted period of six months.
"The more steps we take [on realizing the project], the more the
interest of supplier countries will grow," he said.
Azerbaijan is seen as the primary potential provider of gas for
the conduit, with Turkmenistan, Iraq and Egypt also mentioned for
the long term.
The 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline is planned to become
operational in 2014 at an estimated cost of EUR7.9 billion, with a
capacity to pump 31 billion cubic meters of gas from the Caspian
Sea to Austria via Turkey and the Balkans, bypassing Russia.