ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's energy minister held talks with Chinese authorities and companies on mining projects, nuclear and renewable energy this week, his ministry said on Tuesday, and the two countries signed a preliminary pact on energy conversion.
Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar met China's Minister of National Resources Wang Guanghua during a visit to Beijing and the pair agreed to boost cooperation on mining, especially in critical minerals and rare earths, the ministry said.
Bayraktar met Zhang Jianjua, head of China's National Energy Administration, to discuss nuclear and renewable energy, the ministry said, adding that a preliminary agreement was signed on energy conversion.
"We are aiming to bring to life concrete projects as soon as possible," Bayraktar said on the X platform after the meeting.
Turkey, which aims to establish three nuclear power plants - one of which, the Akkuyu power plant, is being built by Russian conglomerate Rosatom - has been in talks with China on a third plant it aims to build in the Thrace region.
Bayraktar on Monday met representatives from China's State Power Investment Cooperation (SPIC), a top electricity producer with the capacity to operate a nuclear power plant, and has the largest renewable resources among China's state utilities. He said they had set a "roadmap" for nuclear and renewable energy projects.
He also discussed building conventional and modular nuclear power plant reactors in Turkey with representatives from China's CNOS. "Different investment models" were evaluated with Chinese battery giant CATL on building a battery storage factory in Turkey, his ministry said.
The minister also discussed renewable energy, green hydrogen and mining investments with business groups, and met with Chinese energy firms, financial institutions, and others during the visit.
(Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
