
Turkiye's Minister of Energy and Natural ResourcesFatih Donmez on Friday said that the government is holding negotiations with Russian on deferring pending payment for natural gas."Negotiations with Russia on many issues are in progress. We are negotiating in a way that will be beneficial to us. We are talking about the deferral of payment, and many other issues. At the moment, we have not had a negative experience with Russia," the minister said, as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.
The minister added, "At the moment, the most important issue for all countries is the security and security of supply."
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In October, Bloomberg had reported that Turkish oil and gas company Botas had appealed to the Russian government to defer a few pending payments for Russian gas till 2024.
The minister added that they are ready with the infrastructure for building a gas hub in Turkiye and a trading platform for European nations.
Donmez said he is confident that Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan will become key players in the gas trading platform being created in Turkiye.
He added that Ankara will be an important player in this market, charging a fee for carrying out the transactions at the gas trading platform.
He stated that they will adjust the price of gas in accordance with theWestern Europe market's price.
The minister said that the two countries are also discussing the second nuclear power plant's construction in Turkiye'sBlack Sea province of Sinop.
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"The project to build a nuclear power plant in Sinop is new for us. At first, we talked with Japan, now we are negotiating with Russia. The conditions for building a nuclear power plant in Sinop may be different compared to the Akkuyu NPP currently under construction. Russia has proposals for a nuclear power plant in Sinop. If we do not agree, we will negotiate with another country," the minister stated.
In September last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had talked about the nuclear power plant's construction with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea province.
(With inputs from agencies)