Turkmen, Chinese presidents attend ceremonial commissioning of giant Galkynysh field
By Aynur Jafarova
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of production facilities in Turkmenistan's giant Galkynysh field, a source told Trend news agency.
The Galkynysh field located in Turkmenistan's Mary province is considered as the second largest deposit in the world, with reserves of 26.2 trillion cubic meters.
The Turkmen president said earlier that the commissioning of Galkynysh "will give great impetus to the further dynamic development of national economy, and contribute to attracting foreign investments to the country."
The Chinese president is on his official visit to Turkmenistan on September 3-4. During the meeting with Turkmen president, the sides discussed regional issues and the most important aspects of international cooperation.
They emphasized that the positions of the two countries coincide on many regional and international issues.
The sides also decided to lift bilateral ties to a strategic partnership.
Speaking at the meeting, the Chinese president said that over recent years, the two countries have enjoyed high political mutual trust and witnessed fruitful cooperation in economy, trade, energy and culture.
According to him, cooperation in the energy field sets a good example for international energy cooperation.
He went on to say that the two countries should firmly support each other's efforts in safeguarding national sovereignty and security as well as territorial integrity and in promoting social and economic development.
The Chinese president also proposed to push forward the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline project and further expand energy cooperation.
For his part, Berdymukhamedov said that China has proved itself as a reliable partner and his country will regard its relationship with China as a foreign policy priority.
According to him, Turkmenistan aims to increase its gas supply to China and speed up the construction of related gas pipelines, and hopes to broaden bilateral cooperation in trade, agriculture, infrastructure and other fields.
After the talks, the two presidents signed a joint declaration and attended the ceremony of signing of bilateral cooperation documents.
According to the joint declaration, the two countries will achieve the target of transmitting 65 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.
Prior to his visit, Xi said in an interview that China, a major energy consumer, and Turkmenistan, a major energy producer, enjoy a natural advantage and huge potential in energy cooperation.
Turkmenistan is one of the key players in the energy market in the resource-rich Caspian region. The Central Asian state has the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves after Russia, Iran and Qatar. It produces about 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
The aspects of the energy strategy carried out by Turkmenistan are to increase the production volume and export of natural gas, to diversify the routes of supply to major world markets.
In accordance with the program for oil and gas development, it is planned to increase the country's annual natural gas production to 250 billion cubic meters by 2030, mostly for export purposes.
Each year the country exports raw materials to Russia, China and Iran.
In May, 2013 chairman of Turkmengas State Concern Kakageldy Abdyllayev said at the 4th International Gas Congress that the Galkynysh field can be a resource base for increasing the export in various directions, including to China.
Chinese Ambassador to Turkmenistan Xiao Qinghua believes that the largest gas pipeline in the world - Turkmenistan-China, which was commissioned in December 2009, has become the new Silk Road, strengthening friendship and cooperation between Turkmenistan and China.
China is Turkmenistan's long-term partner in the oil and gas sector and is the largest creditor in the country's fuel and energy industry as well.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. At present, China holds first place in the total foreign trade turnover of Turkmenistan. The trade turnover between the two countries exceeded $10 billion in 2012.
China is also well represented in the Turkmen market of transport and telecommunications. Bilateral cooperation in the spheres of energy, transport, communication and textile industry has developed.
Currently around 22 Chinese enterprises operate in Turkmenistan. The Turkmen-Chinese interactions are regulated by legal basis, which includes over 135 documents signed at interstate, intergovernmental and interagency levels.