Turkmen, Bulgarian and Hungarian presidents discuss energy security

Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, June 21 / Trend H. Hasanov / Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has recently met with Bulgarian and Hungarian presidents Rosen Plevneliev and János Áder, the Turkmen government said today. The meetings were held during the Turkmen leader's visit to Brazil, where the UN conference on sustainable development Rio +20 is being held. According to the information, the sides exchanged the views on priority areas of bilateral relations and urgent issues of regional and international policy of mutual interest. 'Talking about Turkmenistan's international initiatives relating to global security, including energy and environment, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasised the need for a comprehensive, systematic, uniform approach to these issues', a statement said. In particular mutual readiness to accelerate a productive dialogue was confirmed at a meeting with the Bulgarian leader. According to the information, the leaders of these friendly countries stated the enormous potential and opportunity for effective cooperation bilaterally and multilaterally, as well as within the major international institutions, especially, the United Nations. Trade and economy, energy, transport and communications, agriculture and tourist industry are among the promising areas of cooperation between Turkmenistan and Bulgaria. Moreover, the Hungarian leader stressed that his country fully supports Turkmenistan's constructive initiatives put forward by the Turkmen leader at the UN to optimise international cooperation for common prosperity and progress. Presidents Berdimuhamedov and Ader stressed the presence of a multi-pronged potential to enhance the mutually beneficial bilateral partnership in all directions. While discussing the prospects of further cooperation in the trade and economic sphere, the sides stressed that today there are good opportunities to diversify bilateral business relations in various fields. The Turkmen president invited the Bulgarian and Hungarian presidents to visit Ashgabat at a convenient time which was accepted. Turkmenistan is one of the most important partners for Hungary and Bulgaria in the field of energy security. In particular, the Nabucco pipeline envisages a gas supply from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU. This will allow a diversification of sources supplying raw materials. In particular, the Bulgarian Bulgargaz and Hungarian company Mol are two equal partners in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International - Nabucco's project company. Moreover, Turkmenistan showed interest in the gas pipeline project Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI) in May 2011, envisaging liquefied Caspian gas supplies through the Black Sea coast of Georgia to Romania. The well-known Baku Declaration on the AGRI project was signed on September 14, 2010. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary are interested in its implementation. The AGRI project will see transportation of Azerbaijani gas via pipelines to the Black Sea coast of Georgia, where the gas will be liquefied at a special terminal. It will then be delivered to a terminal at the Romanian port of Constanta via tankers. Later, the liquefied gas will be brought into the state of natural gas and directed towards covering the needs of Romania and other European countries. Turkmenistan may be involved in these projects if a separate gas pipeline line is constructed through the Caspian Sea bed to the coast of Azerbaijan. The possibility of supplying liquefied gas by tankers through the sea is being studied. There are no direct agreements on the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline implementation. However, the European Union gave a mandate to start negotiations on the preparation of an agreement between the EU, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on the Trans-Caspian project in September 2011. Negotiations are underway. Ashgabat said that it is sufficient to get agreement from Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, whose territories are covered by the project to lay a pipe through the Caspian Sea bed, the legal status of which has not been determined yet. Azerbaijan has expressed its readiness to provide its own territory, transit opportunities and infrastructure to implement the project. Previously, SOCAR representatives spoke about this at an energy conference in Ashgabat. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az