President: Russia hopes for expanding trade and economic relations with Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Dec. 29 / Trend H. Hasanov / Russia hopes for the further active expansion of trade and economic relations with Turkmenistan, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's message addressed to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said. "I hope for the further active expansion of fruitful trade-economic, interregional and humanitarian contacts, coordination of actions in international affairs, taking into account the chairmanship of Turkmenistan in the CIS for the benefit of our peoples and to strengthen stability and security in Central Asia," the letter says. President Medvedev said that the joint work was conducted in 2011 to further strengthen the Russian-Turkmen relations. "I hope that the cooperation will continue in the same constructive spirit in 2012," he said. "It will be marked by the twentieth anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkmenistan, as well as the tenth anniversary of the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation." The cooperation in the field of fuel and energy complex is the strategic direction in the relationship between the two countries. Turkmen gas is supplied to Russia through the Middle Asia - Center gas pipeline through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The customer is "Gazprom" (Russia). It signed the agreement on gas supplies with Turkmenistan for 25 years in 2003. At present, the Middle Asia - Center gas pipeline does not work at full capacity. Under the influence of the global recession, Russia has reduced the purchase up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas since 2010 or 4 times less than in 2008. Turkmenistan and Russia have previously spoken about the new project of the Caspian gas pipeline with a capacity up to 30 billion cubic meters a year. In this regard, the Presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan (a transit country) and Turkmenistan signed the agreement in May 2007 to construct a gas pipeline. The preparation of its feasibility study has been suspended due to the changes in market conditions in the global gas market. Russian companies participate in the development of Turkmen resources. A production sharing agreement on one of the blocks in the Turkmen Caspian shelf was signed in September 2009. The Russian Itera company was initially named as the operator. The role of the operator shifted to the Russian "Zarubezhneft" company (51 percent of shares) in august 2011. It signed the agreement on joint activity in the area with Itera company (49 percent). Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az