Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, March 30 /Trend H.Hasanov/
Turkmenistan attaches great importance to developing friendly relations with the United States of America, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov said at a government meeting, the Turkmen government said on Friday.
The head of state, 'noted the presence of a solid potential for intensifying the fruitful intergovernmental cooperation built on an equal, mutually beneficial and long-term basis'. Political consultations between the two countries have been held recently in Washington.
Berdymuhamedov noted the importance of regular bilateral political consultations as an effective mechanism for the development of new effective forms of partnership in order to maximise utilisation of existing opportunities for cooperation.
'The meeting at the U.S. State Department resulted in a lively exchange of views on a wide range of issues of the Turkmen-American dialogue in the political, economic, trade, humanitarian and cultural areas', the statement said.
It also reported that the fuel and energy sector is considered as one of the most promising areas of cooperation 'which is caused by the enormous energy potential of Turkmenistan and the strategy pursued by the country's constructive and mutually beneficial co-operation in this strategic area'.
At this stage business contacts, mainly in such areas as the supply of highly productive agricultural machinery, upgrading of the Turkmenistan aviation fleet and import of power equipment has established links between the two countries.
With regard to joint projects in the gas industry, this stage of cooperation has yet to mature. The U.S. is interested in such projects as the laying of gas pipelines from Turkmenistan to Europe via the Caspian Sea and in Pakistan and India via Afghanistan.
In addition, negotiations on the development of Turkmenistan's hydrocarbon fields make it rank fourth among the countries with the largest natural gas reserves in the world.
Ashgabat has invited U.S. companies to view the development of the Turkmen Caspian shelf.