Turkey and China Sign Nuclear Energy Cooperation Agreement

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In his official visit to China, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a letter of intent to cooperate on nuclear energy. Erdogan, with a large delegation of government bureaucrats and 300 businessmen, started his official visit to China on Monday.

In a February trip by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to Ankara and Istanbul, the two countries signed trade deals worth billions of dollars. For additional information, see February 23, 2012, article - Turkey and China Strengthen Ties Through Currency and Trade Agreements.

''Turkey will hold nuclear power plant negotiations with China,'' Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters after the signing ceremony. "We can carry out nuclear power plant negotiations on three separate models with three separate countries," Yildiz said, according to the state-run Anatolian News Agency. Turkey is also holding talks with South Korea and Japan about nuclear power plants.

China's state-owned energy company China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (Beijing) has expressed interest in building Turkey's second nuclear power plant. The plant is slated to be built in the northern province of Sinop, on the Black Sea coast, 200 miles north of Ankara. Turkey gave the go-ahead to Russia's nuclear company Atomstroyexport (Moscow,Russia) to build the country's first nuclear plant in Akkuyu, Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast.

In recent years, Chinese companies have increased their ties to China, particularly in the technology and mining businesses. Trade between the two countries has risen from $1 billion in 2000 to $19.5 billion in 2010. The countries plan to increase that figure to $50 billion by 2015 and $100 billion by 2020. The trade volume between the two countries is expected to reach $30 billion by the end of the year.

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