RIA Novosti reported that European Commission President Mr Jose Manuel Barroso will visit Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan where he will discuss Nabucco gas pipeline project.

Mr Barroso said "I will be travelling next week together with (Energy) Commissioner (Guenther) Oettinger to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to push for the Southern Corridor initiative."

He said that "Certainly, our goal is to have the clear commitments of those countries regarding the Southern Corridor and including, of course, Nabucco."

Mr Barroso will visit Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on January 13 to 15.

The Nabucco project, supposed to pump gas from the Caspian region to European countries through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Austria is a key element of the western strategy to cut Europe dependence on Russian energy supplies.

(Sourced from RIA Novosti)