European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who arrived in Ashgabat on Jan.14 on his first official visit, held talks on energy cooperation with the Turkmen President in the Oguzkent Presidential Hotel today, Trend reports.
The sides expressed mutual interest in cooperation on issues of Turkmen gas supplies to Europe, including via the pipeline to be built across the Caspian Sea.
The sides discussed a wide range of issues concerning international and regional politics and the state and prospects for development of the Turkmenistan-EU partnership in the context of existing and emerging long-term projects and programs.
Barroso arrived in Ashgabat after his visit to Azerbaijan. In Baku, Barroso and President Ilham Aliyev signed "A Joint Declaration on the "Southern Gas Corridor"", which includes also the Nabucco project. Turkmenistan, which possesses the world's largest natural gas reserves, is also interested in the Nabucco project as a supplier.
Under the project, the gas supply from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU could begin in 2015. The Nabucco gas pipeline project worth 7.9 billion euros is expected to be launched in 2012.
"We welcome the interest of European companies in the implementation of joint projects in Turkmenistan," Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said on Saturday after a meeting with the EU delegation headed by European Commission President, Mr Barroso. "European business can take its rightful place in the economy of Turkmenistan," he said. The Ashgabat authorities are holding talks on cooperation with Total, Eni, BP, Gas de France and others.
Berdimuhamedov said that the country, being one of the largest natural gas producers in the world, is building its strategy in this industry based on the principles of diversification, which in turn implies creating a multi-variant transport system, including pipeline infrastructure aimed at ensuring reliable and stable natural gas supplies to world markets.
"In this sense, we consider the European direction as one of the most promising and are ready to work together with our colleagues from the European Union."
In his turn, Barroso stressed that the Ashgabat meeting was "constructive and fruitful".
Turkmenistan's leader said his energy-rich country was ready to sell gas to Europe after the EU Commission urged the country to apply for membership in the World Trade Organisation, Business Recorder reports.
"Turkmenistan's adhesion to the WTO would exert a positive influence on economic development in the country and its attraction for investors," Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said after the talks with Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
"We have all the necessary conditions and many ways of delivering gas to Europe," Berdymukhamedov said. He said the most attractive project was a pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea, though tankers transporting compressed natural gas across the sea are also an option.
"We support your public declaration of intent to build a pipeline," Barroso said through an interpreter into Russian. "We are ready to work together so that Turkmenistan becomes an important participant in the Southern Corridor."
