Russia, Turkmenistan exploring opportunities for co-op in energy
By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade
Russia and Turkmenistan are exploring opportunities for cooperation in the energy sector.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, following talks in Ashgabat with President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, said that cooperation in the oil and gas sector will be discussed at the meeting of the intergovernmental commission, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports.
“The dates for its holding are now being coordinated,”he said.
During the conversation, Lavrov said that the President of Turkmenistan expressed satisfaction with the way the gas issue is being considered in our current dialogue with a view to finding new, far-reaching, large-scale agreements. The Russian Foreign Ministry also published a speech by Lavrov at a meeting with the President of Turkmenistan.
"There are positive movements in the energy sector between our countries. We support them. We want the Eurasian Economic Union to be understandable for all our partners who are not part of this structure," Lavrov said. He noted that there are plans to link the Central Asian electro-energy system, in which Turkmenistan plays a very important role, and the common electric-energy market, which is formed in the Eurasian Economic Union by 2025.
Diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkmenistan were established on April 8, 1992. The basic document is the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation of April 23, 2002 (replaced the similar Agreement of July 31, 1992). In total, more than 170 agreements have been signed between Russia and Turkmenistan, covering all areas of interaction.
Russian-Turkmen relations are based on the principle of strategic partnership, which is fixed in the bilateral Agreement on the expansion of strategic cooperation in the field of energy and engineering dated December 22, 2009 and signed interstate Agreement on strategic partnership on October 2, 2017 in Ashgabat.
Trade and economic relations between Russia and Turkmenistan are developing steadily, but recently they are characterized by a reduction in mutual trade. At the end of 2016, it amounted to $ 901.8 million, at the end of 2017 - $ 428.2 million, including Russian exports - $ 343.8 million and imports - $ 84.4 million.
In the first half of 2018, the foreign trade turnover of the two countries amounted to $ 149.3 million, including Russian exports - $ 90.9 million and imports - $ 58.3 million.
There are about 190 companies with Russian capital in Turkmenistan. Since 2009, on the basis of a signed production sharing agreement in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea, the ARETI holding (formerly Itera) has been operating. At the same time, the Russian OAO Gazprom, a traditional trading partner, in 2016 completely cut off purchases of Turkmen gas. At this stage, negotiations are underway on the conditions for the resumption of the gas deal.
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