The Turkmen and Russian Presidents, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and
Dmitry Medvedev, recently met at a CIS summit in Dushanbe. They
underlined that their cooperation should become strategic, Turkmen
media reported on Monday.
Medvedev wished Berdimuhamedov success as CIS chairman in 2012.
Berdimuhamedov said that Turkmenistan is an associate member of the
CIS and views chairmanship as an opportunity to improve regional
cooperation.
The two leaders discussed realization of deals signed earlier and
prospects for development of mutually beneficial partnership in the
CIS space.
Turkmenistan-4 Channel said that the two states have good
opportunities to activate and diversify their trade-economic
partnership, contacts in the leading spheres and business. A set of
well-known Russian companies would like to expand their presence in
the Turkmen market.
Turkmenistan has been actively cooperating with such Russian regions
as Tatarstan, the Astrakhan Region and Saint-Petersburg. An
inter-governmental commission was established.
Gazprom was the main purchaser of Turkmen gas until the
Turkmenistan-China pipeline was launched in 2009.
Zarubezhneft (Russia) has become the operator of the
multi-billion-dollar 21 Block project in the Turkmen sector of the
Caspian Sea. A deal was signed with Itera, which explored the area in
2009.
