Jul 3, 2009, 13:14 GMT
Brussels - Top officials from four European Union nations plus Turkey are to meet in Ankara on July 13 to sign an agreement on Nabucco, the pipeline intended to deliver natural gas from the Caspian Sea to the EU, officials in Brussels confirmed Friday.
The Intergovernmental Conference will see the participation of Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, the countries through which the pipeline will run. The meeting will formalize the project's legal framework, officials said.
Aimed at reducing the EU's over-dependance on Russian gas, the 3,300-kilometre pipeline is supposed to become operational in 2014. But such a date has been thrown into question because of numerous delays.
The European Commission, which helped mediate the negotiations over the project, will likely be represented in Ankara by Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, his spokesman in Brussels said.
EU governments have pledged 250 million euros (350 million dollars) to support the nearly 8-billion-euro project.
Germany is also part of the consortium, but has no transit role.
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