Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 23 / Trend, V. Zhavoronkova/
The visit of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov to Russia should be positively valued because it will allow resolving up-to-date bilateral problems, Russian expert on Central Asia, a member of Trend Expert Council Stanislav Pritchin said.
"During the visit, Turkmenistan and Russia will be able to restore the bilateral relations and bilateral dialog," he told Trend over the phone from Moscow.
Berdimuhamedov's visit to Russia started on Friday. During the trip Turkmen President met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and sides discussed trade and economic relations between Turkmenistan with Russia.
Pritchin said, high-level contacts allow keeping political dialog between countries at the appropriate level.
"Regular meeting help countries to fix problems and contradictions that occur in the relations of
all the countries," he added.
Pritchin added that, expectedly during Turkmen President's visit, the sides will discuss gas exports from Turkmenistan to Russia, but the result of the discussions can't be predicted.
Turkeministan and Russia are the world's energy states with solid reserves of hydrocarbon resources, the countries are equal partners in gas business, Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary state news service reported expressing Ashgabat's official position on the eve of Berdimuhamedov's visit to Moscow.
Russian companies are involved in the modernization of Turkmenistan's energy sector, development strategy of which includes increase in raw materials production and supplies to world markets, as well as increasing processing industry capacities, including petrochemical production.
Thus, in accordance with a production sharing agreement signed by the State Agency for Hydrocarbon Resources Management and Use under the President of Turkmenistan, the Russian company Itera operates on offshore Block 21 in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.
Another example is the construction of Central Karakum-Yilanly gas pipeline, implemented within a contract signed by Turkmengas state concern and Russian MRK-Inziniring, which is included in Itera group of companies. Commissioning of the gas pipeline with length of over 198 kilometers allowed increasing natural gas supplies from Turkmenistan to Russia.
Turkmen government's report says that "a regular meeting of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will become a new important step towards a comprehensive strengthening and further boosting of bilateral relations, which have character of full-scale strategic cooperation," the report says.
It is emphasized that "an important factor is relations of mutual understanding and confidence between leaders of the two countries, constant willingness of Turkmenistan and Russia to bring the traditional intergovernmental dialogue to a qualitatively new level to meet their mutual priorities".
The priority aspects of bilateral relations, topical issues of regional and international policy of mutual interest are on the agenda.
Turkmenistan has intensified the cooperation with Russian major regions as Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, Sverdlovsk region and other regions.
Russia ranks a leading position in the ranking of the major foreign trade partners of Turkmenistan. Thus, trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $3.392.4 billion (including the export of Turkmen goods to Russia amounted to $2.683.5 billion and imports amounted to $708.9 million), in 10 months of 2011, which is 28 percent more compared the same period in 2010.