Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has met with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, an official Turkmen source reported on Tuesday.

Issues relating to cooperation in providing security of international energy supplies, preparing an effective administrative mechanism for transboundary water resources in the region were discussed during the meeting.

Zannier expressed the OSCE's interest to increase and strengthen cooperation with Turkmenistan, whose neutral status is a positive factor in maintaining peace and stability in the region.

Berdymukhamedov, in turn, thanked the OSCE chief for his support to the Turkmen initiative to solve effectively the pressing problems of global development.

This year Turkmenistan joined the UN convention on the protection and utilization of transboundary flows and international lakes. This convention is very important for Turkmenistan, 80-90 percent of whose area consists of deserts.

Turkmenistan has borders with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Afghanistan. It utilizes water resources in accordance with the quotas for four transboundary rivers: Amu Darya, Tejen, Atrek and Murghab. 90 percent of water comes to Turkmenistan from Amu Darya.

In his speech at the OSCE Astana summit in December 2010, Berdymukhamedov noted that it is important to understand new realities, prevent politicization of energy issues, to establish honest, equal and transparent cooperation.

The Turkmen president considers it practical to step up energy dialogue within the OSCE, to formulate a mechanism of multilateral consultations on political, economic, environmental aspects of construction and exploitation of pipeline infrastructure.

Ashgabat supports establishing a new mechanism of cooperation - interregional energy dialogue under UN auspices.

Turkmenistan plays an important role in natural gas supplies, and its major importers are Russia, China and Iran. An additional gas pipeline to Russia (through Kazakhstan) and Europe (Nabucco pipeline to transport Azerbaijan's gas) are among the most discussed projects.