Türkiye can strengthen Europe’s green energy security: Minister

ISTANBUL

Türkiye will strengthen Europe's energy security not only through natural gas but also by providing green energy, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said, noting Türkiye’s aim to increase installed renewable capacity to 120 gigawatts by 2035.

Speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, Bayraktar said that at the Istanbul Energy Forum held last week, he had bilateral meetings and had the opportunity to evaluate these issues together with the relevant ministers in the panel.

In a speech he delivered at the forum, Bayraktar noted that 2024 will be a record year for Türkiye in terms of total installed capacity increase.

Countries that attended the Forum are willing to cooperate with Türkiye in energy, Bayraktar told the agency.

“We are entering a period of very important opportunities for the future.”

The forum, organized under the auspices of the Energy Ministry focused on “Common Future, Common Goals” and brought together global energy leaders to address shared challenges.

Türkiye is a country with a very strong infrastructure and an energy sector that has successfully overcome many crises, including the pandemic and problems in the supply chain, Bayraktar said, adding that with the investments made in recent years, Türkiye has diversified its energy supply.

“We are now producing our own energy and we have become an exporter country from being a net importer [of energy],” he said.

State-owned BOTAŞ is exporting gas to many countries, which attended the forum, the minister noted.

“We want to increase our cooperation even more and take it to a higher level. We emphasized both these and how we can take our bilateral cooperation and multilateral cooperation further.”

Ankara and Budapest will renew a natural gas export deal between the two countries, said Laszlo Fritsch, the CEO of Hungary’s state-owned energy company MVM CEEnergy, on the sidelines of the forum.

“We would like to further cooperate with BOTAŞ and to increase the volumes for the future,” he added.

Fritsch said that Hungary aims “to reach a deal by the end of this year” stretching into the years to come.

BOTAŞ and MVM signed a deal in 2023 under which Türkiye began natural gas shipments via pipeline to Hungary, its first European country destination that is not one of Türkiye's neighbors.

The strong attendance in the forum highlighted Türkiye’s pivotal role and the global community's trust in the nation, Bayraktar also said.

“Countries from many regions from Central Asia to Russia, from the Middle East to North Africa, from the Balkans to Central Europe were represented here at the ministerial level,” he added.

The Istanbul Energy Forum hosted minister-level participants from 10 countries, representatives from international organizations, domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations, academics and prominent figures from the business world.