BRUSSELS, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Several European Union (EU) countries and Turkey will sign an inter-governmental agreement on the Nabucco pipeline in Ankara on July 13, the European Commission confirmed on Friday.

    The commission, the executive body of the EU, has been invited to the signing ceremony, a spokesman said.

    The agreement was reached between EU member states, through which the natural gas pipeline will go through and Turkey "based on the principles of mutual solidarity, mutual equality and interdependence," commission spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny said.

    The commission, invited to the signing, will not be a signatory to the agreement, which is between Turkey and the participating EU member states.

    The 3,300-kilometer-long pipeline is designed to pump gas from the Caspian region to Austria through Turkey. The pipeline, which also goes through EU member states Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, bypasses Russia, the largest gas supplier for Europe.