Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 28
By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend:
Turkmen-German political consultations were held in Ashgabat, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.
The German delegation was headed by Director for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia at the German Federal Foreign Office Michael Siebert.
The meeting participants exchanged views on a number of regional issues of international energy and environmental security, and discussed prospects for cooperation in trade, energy, transport, healthcare and education.
Speaking about the next meeting of the German working group on economic cooperation, which is expected to be held in the Turkmen capital, the parties proposed to hold a business forum and cultural days of a friendly country at the event, the report said.
In addition, the parties touched upon issues of cooperation within the framework of reputable international organizations, especially the EU, and the implementation of the EU Strategy for Central Asia.
The German companies make a significant contribution to the implementation of long-term projects in Turkmenistan. Among them are such companies as Siemens, Daimler, Claas, Dresser-Rand.
Turkmenistan with its natural gas reserves holds one of the leading places in the world and ranks second in the CIS after Russia. Galkynysh gas field is one of the biggest fields in the world.
The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project can be implemented within the Southern Gas Corridor project lobbied by the EU. To this end, a 300-kilometer gas pipeline will have to be laid along the seabed of the Caspian Sea to the shores of Azerbaijan.
The legal status of the Caspian Sea was approved last year, after twenty years of negotiations between the Caspian countries.
Turkmenistan declared its readiness to supply Europe with an annual volume of up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas.
Ashgabat also reports that the EU has expressed willingness to help attract investments in the implementation of this project. In 2015, the East-West domestic gas pipeline was commissioned, connecting the gas-rich eastern regions of Turkmenistan to the west of the country and the Caspian coast.