Turkish minister calls Caspian Sea important economic region

Turkish Minister for Customs and Trade Hayati Yazici said at the opening of the Caspian Forum in Istanbul that the Caspian Region was the richest in energy resources and one of the most important economic regions, Trend reports.

He noted that the Caspian Region affected lives of 1.9 billion people, a quarter of the world’s population. The total GDP of Caspian states exceeded $20 trillion, a quarter of the world GDP.

The Caspian states have 12% of oil reserves and 4% of gas reserves.

Yazici added that demand for energy resources will grow by 60% by 2013 all over the world, by 45% in Europe in 20 years. 51% of European gas was imported. The figure will reach 71% by 2020.