Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, July 18 /Trend H.Hasanov/
A separate topic of discussion between the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso was over cooperation in the energy sector, the Turkmen government said on Wednesday.
The information says that it is due to both the ever-growing needs of the EU member states in energy and Turkmenistan's strategy of diversifying the routes of its energy resources to world markets, providing the creation of a multiple pipeline infrastructure.
"The European Commission president said that Europe welcomes this forward-looking strategy as well as international initiatives on the formation of a new, response to modern realities, a global energy security system put forward by the Turkmen leader," the media reported.
Berdymuhamedov noted that Turkmenistan, having a rich hydrocarbon potential, seeks to put it into the service of the international community and take specific, sequential steps in this direction.
Turkmenistan has initiated a number of major projects and has accumulated considerable experience in this area. Turkmenistan is ready to consider the possibility of further cooperation with foreign countries including our European partners, the Turkmen leader said.
Special attention was drawn to the need to continue working together to build a reliable and robust legal framework of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the European Union on the international energy markets.
In this regard, the high interest of the EU in expansion of mutually beneficial relations with Turkmenistan in the energy sector was confirmed
The government report states that developing the theme of energy cooperation, the parties recognised the importance of joint efforts in promoting issues related to ensuring global energy security.
Berdymuhamedov emphasised the need to immediately establish an expert group to develop a new international legal mechanism to ensure the reliability and stability of energy supplies to world markets. This topic is in the context of sustainable development and was one of the main areas of the Turkmen president's speech at the World Forum 'Rio +20'.
Turkmenistan is one of the largest exporters of gas in the Caspian region and at this stage has the ability to export natural gas to China, Iran and Russia. Among the planned gas pipelines from Turkmenistan are the extra to Russia (Caspian gas pipeline - through Kazakhstan), Europe (Trans-Caspian gas pipeline - Nabucco, or as part of the AGRI-on the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan) and India (Trans-Afghan gas pipeline via Pakistan).