Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, July 30 / Trend H.Hasanov /
At the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, Ashgabat will propose to organize an inter-regional energy dialogue under the UN auspices, the Turkmen government's press service reported today.
"The country intends to propose to organize the Inter-regional energy dialogue that should become an effective tool in establishing mutually beneficial cooperation in this strategic sector," the report reads.
At the latest governmental meeting, Turkmen President Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov confirmed "the country's readiness to continue to take an active part in resolving global issues and help to build a positive international dialogue ...".
At the previous sessions of the UN General Assembly, Turkmenistan has already made a number of initiatives related to global energy security and development of productive partnerships in the energy sector. It voiced an initiative to establish a UN Energy Council to address the issue of international energy supplies.
The Turkmen media state that forwarding new ideas for the effective economic cooperation, the country attaches great importance to cooperation with the largest UN agencies - such as the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and others.
Turkmenistan occupies a key position in the region on natural gas supplies. The main importers are Russia, China and Iran.
Based on the Turkmen Oil and Gas Industry Development Program up to 2030, it will bring the annual gas production to 230 billion cubic meters, most for export.
An additional pipeline to Russia (Trans Caspian Pipeline - through Kazakhstan), Europe (Nabucco - on the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan) and India (TransAfghan- via Pakistan,) are among them most mulled projects.
According to a BP report, Turkmenistan is in the fourth place in the world on the natural gas reserves in yielding to Russia, Iran and Qatar. The country's largest field South-Osman Yoloten has the resources that local geologists estimated in the range of 22 trillion cubic meters.