Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, August 30 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov established the staff of the Turkmen-Austrian joint commission for the further development of bilateral economic relations.
The commission is headed by chairman of the Turkmen Chamber of Commerce and Industry Palvan Taganov from the Turkmen side.
Diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and Austria were established in November 1992. During this period, seven documents were signed at the interdepartmental, intergovernmental and interstate levels. Austrian companies are involved in more than 20 Turkmen projects in the field of construction and reconstruction of the national economy, exploration and extraction of hydrocarbon resources.
Turkmen president's official visit to Vienna in late November 2008 has given the dynamics to relations between the two countries. The talks were held with Wolfgang Ruttensdorfer, head of Austrian oil company OMV, a member of the Nabucco consortium, in the Austrian capital.
The aim of this project is to supply hydrocarbon resources from the Caspian region to the European continent. This consortium includes Hungarian MOL, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE.
Turkmenistan can become a part of "Nabucco" if the Trans-Caspian pipeline with length of about 300 kilometers is built (through the Caspian seabed between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan). Then Nabucco pipeline may pass through the territory of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and reach Austria.
Nabucco's annual capacity can reach 31 billion cubic meters of gas at a cost of 7.9 billion euros. Turkmen leadership has expressed readiness to supply the Nabucco project in the annual volume to 10 billion cubic meters.