Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — China and Turkey have signed two nuclear cooperation
agreements.

The two countries signed the agreements during a ceremony in Beijing on
April 9 headed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Erdogan.

Officials said the accords would intensify nuclear
cooperation, particularly in the area of research and energy.

Officials provided few details of the agreements but said they reflect a strategic alliance between Ankara and Beijing, with trade reaching nearly $20 billion in 2011.

They said one of the nuclear accords was a Letter of Intent between China’s National Energy Administration and the Turkish Energy Ministry.

Turkey has been examining potential contractors for its second nuclear energy reactor, planned for construction in the northern province of Sinop.

So far, China has been deemed a leading candidate and in competition with Japan, Russia and South Korea. Russia’s Rosatom has already been contracted to build Turkey’s first nuclear energy reactor.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Ankara would select a winner for the second nuclear energy project by July. Yildiz accompanied Erdogan on the first visit by a Turkish prime minister to China since 1985.

  China, China National Energy Administration, nuclear agreements with China, Recep Erdogan, research, Taner Yildiz, Turkey forges strategic, Turkey’s second nuclear energy reactor, Turkish Energy Ministry, Wen Jiabao