Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Ukraine is ready to contribute to infrastructure development in Turkmenistan's economy, including the construction of energy and industry facilities and development of gas fields, President Viktor Yanukovych has said on a visit to Ashgabat, Turkmen television reported on Thursday.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart on the sidelines of the summit of CIS leaders on Wednesday.

"President Viktor Yanukovych confirmed the desire of the Ukrainian side to further develop relations with Turkmenistan," the report said.

The fuel and energy sector as well as transport and communications were cited as the priority fields for bilateral cooperation. The parties also noted the growth of trade between the two countries.

Experts say Ukraine's main interest in Turkmenistan is associated with the country's huge natural gas reserves. In turn, the Central Asian state, which currently supplies gas to China, Iran and Russia, is interested in new markets, including early access of its energy resources to Europe. At present, the traditional direction through Russia is not used with full potential, and the Trans-Caspian pipeline, which is to cross the territory of Azerbaijan, is still under consideration.

Russia and Turkmenistan are major natural gas suppliers to world markets in the CIS area. Russia was receiving Turkmen gas for re-export via the Central Asia - Center (CAC) pipeline through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which was monopolized by Russian giant Gazprom after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Turkmen and Ukrainian leaders also discussed plans for the development of cooperation, in particular, the Ukrainian president's state visit to Turkmenistan, which is scheduled for February 2013, the Turkmen TV reported.

According to the Ukrainian president press-service, Yanukovych said that the challenging
economic situation in the world calls for increased trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and Turkmenistan.

Yanukovych expressed confidence that an agreement on a free trade zone would contribute to the solution of this problem, the statement said. In particular, he noted, all the existing agreements between the parties are being enforced.

The Ukrainian leader also focused on prospects for increasing the goods turnover between the two countries.

The work of the Ukrainian-Turkmen intergovernmental commission on economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation also contributes to the development of bilateral relations, the Ukrainian president added.

Ukraine-Turkmenistan relations have thawed lately with a number of presidential state visits.

Turkmenistan is extremely interested in Europe's support for the Trans-Caspian gas project, a subsea pipeline to link Turkmenistan with Azerbaijan. Further plans include connecting it with one of the routes for supplying Caspian gas to Europe, such as Nabucco West or Trans Adriatic Pipeline, which rival the Russian-backed South Stream project.