Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, July 10 / Trend H.Hasanov /
Promoting dialogue on energy security has been one of the most important areas of cooperation between the OSCE and Turkmenistan over the past few years, a statement by Ivo Petrov, the head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, timed to the 20th anniversary of cooperation, says.
"Due to the multidimensional approach to security issues and a broad composition of the organisation uniting both producer countries and transit countries and energy consumers, the OSCE is a unique forum to promote international cooperation in energy security," the diplomat said.
Two high level international conferences on energy security organised in Turkmenistan for the past two years as well as a series of seminars on energy diplomacy are, according to the diplomat, "excellent examples of successful cooperation between the OSCE and Turkmenistan in this area."
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, speaking at the main summit of OSCE member countries, held in December 2010 in Astana (Kazakhstan), had noted the need to reach "a new level of understanding of modern realities in this area and to stop politicising the issues of energy supply, to establish a fair, equitable and transparent partnership."
In his opinion, it is advisable to strengthen the energy dialogue within the OSCE and to formulate mechanisms for multilateral consultations on political, financial, economic, technological and environmental aspects of construction and operation of a multiple pipeline infrastructure.
Turkmenistan occupies one of the key positions in the region on natural gas supplies - importers are Russia, China and Iran. The analytic material of the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) said that in the near future, Turkmenistan will be able to expand and increase the supply of gas to foreign markets. Among the actively discussed projects are an additional gas pipeline to Russia (Caspian - via Kazakhstan), to Europe (Nabucco - through the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan) and India (Trans-Afghan via Pakistan).
In accordance with the development programme of Turkmenistan's oil and gas industry, in 2030 it is planned to increase the annual natural gas production to 230 billion cubic meters, much of which is designed for export.
Turkmenistan, according to a BP report, ranks fourth in terms of natural gas reserves in the world after Russia, Iran and Qatar. The largest field is Galkynysh is located in the east. Ashgabat called for the creation of a new mechanism for cooperation, an inter-regional energy dialogue under the UN auspices.