Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Aug. 2 / Trend H.Hasanov /
A sea agreement was signed in Moscow, following a meeting of Russian-Turkmen intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, media outlets reported on Thursday citing the press service of the Russian government.
The document was signed between the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and the State Service of Maritime and River Transport of Turkmenistan and is concerned with delegation of authority for the services to conduct surveys of ships and documentation in accordance with the requirements of international treaties relating to merchant shipping.
At the meeting the delegations were headed by co-chairs of the commission - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan, foreign minister Rashid Meredov, RBC reports.
The Commission also considered a number of questions on the most important areas of Russian-Turkmen cooperation, including in the energy sector, transport, industry, agriculture, finance, humanitarian cooperation and regional cooperation.
Following the meeting, a protocol was signed. The next meeting of the commission is decided to be held in the second half of 2013 in Turkmenistan.
Russia and Turkmenistan in the CIS are the major exporters of natural gas. In Turkmenistan's total turnover for the three months in 2012 Russia took third place, and the turnover amounted to $1.235.41 billion.
Strategic direction in the relationship between the two countries is cooperation in the field of fuel and energy complex. Russia receives Turkmenistan's gas by pipeline Central Asia - Center (CAC) through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The customer is Russian Gazprom, which signed in 2003 an agreement with Turkmenistan on gas supplies for 25 years.
Currently, the CAC does not work at full capacity. Russia under the influence of the global recession has reduced since 2010 purchases to 10 billion cubic meters of gas, which is four times less than in 2008. Russian companies are participating in the development of hydrocarbon resources of Turkmenistan. Under the production sharing agreement on one of the blocks in the Caspian Sea, Russian Itera and Zarubezhneft work here.
Today about 180 joint ventures, Russian companies, including Siloviye mashini (Power Machines), Vozrozhdeniye (Revival) and others involved in the construction of several industrial and social facilities, roads and communications are represented in Turkmenistan.