Russia and Turkey have concluded a deal to resume construction on the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline, the TASS news agency reports.
The agreement was signed during a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Monday. In addition to the energy agreement, the two presidents discussed other topics, from cooperation in the Syrian Civil War, to trade and tourism.
The first two lines of Turkish Stream are fully financed and should be built by December 2019, Gazprom's Alexei Miller told the Rossiya 24 channel.
The project signals a normalization in Russian-Turkish relations, which turned sour in November 2015 after the Turkish air-force shot down a Russian military jet that had allegedly violated Turkish airspace. One month later, President Erdogan announced the cancellation of Turkish Stream.
The pipeline project was first announced in December 2014 during a state visit to Turkey by Vladimir Putin.
Turkish Stream has an estimated cost of 11.4bln euros and is planned to consist of four lines, each capable of carrying 15.75bln cubic meters of natural gas.
