Azernews.Az

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has met the head of the Mangold Consulting GmbH Company Klaus Mangold, according to the Turkmen government.

"Speaking about the important vectors of development of the Turkmen economy, the prospects for diversification of gas export routes including to Europe, the visitor reaffirmed the willingness of German businesses to cooperate with Turkmenistan in this direction," a statement said.

Both sides discussed the prospects of cooperation in the transport sector and in particular, the development of port infrastructure and improvement of marine and rail links.

The Turkmen president noted the high level of cooperation established in recent years with well-known German companies.

"The Turkmen government is creating all the conditions for fruitful collaboration by pursuing and in particular, well thought of investment policies that include significant financial, tax and customs exemptions and steadily improving national legislation which is brought in line with universally recognised norms of international law," Berdimuhamedov said.

Mangold, in turn, noted "a great interest of German business circles and in particular of his company, to consolidate positions in the promising Turkmen market as well as active participation in the ongoing large scale projects in the country".

The hydrocarbon resources of Turkmenistan could potentially be connected to the European market via the Caspian Sea through construction of a small branch line (about 300 miles) of the pipeline through the seabed to the coast of Azerbaijan. Europe expects to diversify sources of gas consumption through Caspian resources, much of which at this stage are provided by Russia.

In April 2009, the Turkmen government signed a long term memorandum with one of the leading traders of natural gas on the European Union market, RWE AG, which conducts exploration in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.

German companies are commonly using loans from leading German banks in the implementation of major projects in Turkmenistan. In particular, projects such as the construction of plants for the production of lubricating oils and paraffin, installation for cleaning diesel fuel from water at the oil refinery in Turkmenbashi, construction of a gas compressor station in Korpeje were implemented using German loans.