Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Jan.20 / Trend H.Hasanov /
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammadov met with Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze in Ashgabat on Thursday, reports Turkmenistan's TV.
During the meeting views were exchanged on issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the report says.
Georgian Foreign Minister in an interview on the Vatan programme said the prospects of interstate relations were discussed, as well. According to Mr Vashadze, the meeting touched upon an energy issues because Georgia has interaction with the European countries in this regard.
Earlier the Georgian ambassador in Turkmenistan Iosif Chakhvashvili said Turkmenistan contributes to speeding up large international projects such as the Nabucco pipeline Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI).
He stressed that "Georgia, in turn, is ready to ensure secure and safe transit of utilities from the Caspian Basin and Central Asia through its territory. It will contribute to gaining experience in the successful functioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum pipelines."
Mr Chakhvashvili also drew attention to Turkmenistan's energy strategy clearly holding up the principle of export route diversification for energy supplies to world markets, including to Europe which "impresses because Georgia is a major part of South CaucasusbTransport and Energy Corridor."
Experts believe that for Caspian Turkmenistan, where lies a concentration of the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world (after Russia, Iran and Qatar), the route to Europe via the Caspian Sea looks increasingly attractive.
Realisation of the Trans-Caspian pipeline infrastructure makes it possible to connect Caspian resources to the transnational large-scale project Nabucco in a long term.
A maximal capacity of Nabucco gas pipeline project is planned on the level of 31 billion cubic meters a year. The project participants are the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE.
AGRI provides for the delivery of liquefied gas via Azerbaijan and Georgia and the Black Sea coast of Georgia to Romania.