Turkey and Iran working on a new energy road map

ANKARA (A.A) - 04.05.2011 - Turkey and Iran are working on a new road map for energy investments, Turkey's energy minister said on Tuesday.
Taner Yildiz, who met with Iran's Energy Minister Majid Namjou in Ankara, told a joint press conference that the new road map would help create new investments in the interest of both countries.
Yildiz said the two countries agreed to establish technical committees which would pave the way for private sector investments, especially on renewable energy. 
Iran, which holds a significant part of world's oil and natural gas reserves, is Turkey's second largest energy partner after Russia. 
Turkey achieved an 8.9 percent growth rate in 2010. Turkish government forecasts that Turkey's electricity consumption would double by 2023.
"Turkey knows that Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkmenistan are important supplier countries and that's why we will consider these countries to meet our needs," Yildiz said.
For his part, Namjou said that the new road map was a sign of energy cooperation between the two countries. He said the road map would help double the 500 mw energy exchange capacity between Turkey and Iran.
Namjou added that Turkey and Iran would build power plants to produce power from heat and wind.