13th round of Transcaucasia security talks to be held in Geneva.

GENEVA, October 14 (Itar-Tass) - The thirteenth round of discussions
aimed at ensuring security and stability in the Transcaucasian region will
be held in Geneva on Thursday. Taking part in the consultations that are
held under the aegis of the UN, EU and OSCE, are delegations of the
Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, Russia, the United States and Republic of
South Ossetia. The discussions will be traditionally held in the formats
of two working groups - on issues of security and on humanitarian affairs.
The RF Foreign Ministry said in a press release in the run-up to the
meeting that the main task of the Geneva discussions "is the conclusion of
legally binding agreements on the non-use of force by Georgia against
Abkhazia and South Ossetia." "Special attention will be paid to the
activity of joint mechanisms to prevent and respond to incidents, which
play a weighty role as a real instrument for increasing security and
restoring trust on the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian
borders. The discussions will also focus on humanitarian issues," the
ministry said.
The Russian delegation is headed by State Secretary, Deputy Foreign
Minister Grigory Karasin, South Ossetian - by the republic president's
plenipotentiary envoy for post-conflict settlement Boris Chochiyev,
Abkhazian - by presidential adviser on international affairs Vyacheslav
Chirikba and Georgian - by Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Bokeria.
The consultations this time will again be held with full-fledged
participation of Abkhazia. During the previous round Sukhum lowered its
participation level due to "doubts regarding the co-chairs' impartiality."
However, Chirikba said in early October that officials of the European
Union, UN and OSCE "in response to the July demarche of the Abkhazian side
intensified their efforts for the creation of a compromise document on the
non-use of force based on earlier offered drafts," after which the
Abkhazian delegation decided to return to the negotiating table in full
strength.

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.Turkmenistan invites UK business community to Caspian projects.


ASHGABAT, October 14 (Itar-Tass) - Turkmenistan has invited the
British business community to participate in projects for the development
of hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian shelf and their transportation to
international markets. These cooperation spheres were named as priorities
at the first meeting of the Turkmen-British trade-industrial council that
opened in Ashgabat on Wednesday.
Taking part in the cooperation prospects are representatives of the
leadership of such well-known companies as Shell, British Petroleum, Rolls
Royce and others.
The oil and natural gas cooperation issue became the central at a
meeting of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov with the
head of the British delegation - co-chairman of the joint trade-industrial
council Ronald Nash, the national television reported. "Turkmenistan
intends to develop large-scale cooperation with Great Britain that is
among our country's long-term and major partners," Berdymukhamedov said.
He called for the attraction of technology and experience of British
companies to projects aimed at modernisation of the production
infrastructure of the oil and gas sphere and diversification of the routes
of exports of energy resources to world markets.
Great Britain sees in Turkmenistan an exclusively promising and solid
business partner, Nash noted for his part. He told the Turkmen president
about the UK companies' aspiration to expand their presence on the
promising, dynamically developing Turkmen market, including in the sphere
of telecommunications. Construction, aircraft buildings and publishing.
Discussing cooperation prospects the Turkmen president stressed the
important issue of participation of companies in the upgrading of skills
and training of national specialists in advanced technologies, as well as
pointed to the need of monitoring the development of cooperation. In this
connection Berdymukhamedov supported the idea to hold meetings of the
Turkmen-British council every six months in Ashgabat and in Great Britain
in succession.
The trade turnover between Turkmenistan and the UK over the first
seven months of 2010 accounted for over 126 million US dollars. A total of
55 British companies are registered in Ashgabat. The main import item is
the Turkmen crude oil and petroleum products.
The negotiations will continue on Thursday at Turkmenistan's
ministries and departments.
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