Erdogan wants to link China’s One Belt, One Road trade initiative with Turkey’s “Middle Corridor” project [Xinhua]
China and Turkey on Sunday finalized an underground gas storage project located in Turkey’s Salt Lake area.
The one billion cubic meter facility is Turkey’s first such storage capacity and is designed to alleviate the country’s gas shortages.
The project is seen as part of China’s enhanced cooperation with Turkey, which Beijing views as a crucial partner in the Silk Road Economic Belt trade and economic partnership initiative.
Chinese plans for the Silk Road run through Central China to the northern Xinjiang from where it travels through Central Asia entering Kazakhstan and onto Iraq, Iran, Syria and then Istanbul in Turkey from where it runs across Europe cutting across Germany, Netherlands and Italy.
China and Turkey, both important members of the G20, face mounting common challenges and obligations against the backdrop of a complex and volatile international situation, a gloomy global economy and grim security situation in West Asia and North Africa, said the Chinese president.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during his November 15 visit to Ankara that Turkey will be an important building block of the transport corridor, linking Asia and Europe, acting as a “Steel Silk Road” running all the way from China to London.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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