06 February 2016•Update: 08 February 2016
ASTANA
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday that Turkey and Kazakhstan would be two central countries of Eurasia in the fields of energy, trade and transportation.
Davutoglu met Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev during a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan to further develop relations in the fields of transportation, energy and trade.
Speaking during a press conference in Astana, Davutoglu said that Turkey constituted an entrance to the European Union (EU) for Kazakhstan while the latter was an entrance to the the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) for Turkey.
Kazakhstan is a member of the Russia-led EEU.
"As soon as the Middle Corridor -- a transportation network extending from the Caspian Sea through Turkey and Azerbaijan to Central Asia and China -- becomes active, Turkey and Kazakhstan will be two central countries of Eurasia," Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu's visit to Kazakhstan is the first since the Ankara-Moscow jet crisis.
Tension between Moscow and Ankara has been high since Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian fighter jet late November after it violated Turkey’s airspace.
Russia imposed a series of economic sanctions after the incident, including restrictions on Turkish exports and limits on activity of Turkish companies operating in Russia.
