Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, August 2
By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:
Turkmenistan attaches special importance to the development and adoption of the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan Dovlet Khabarlary state news agency quoted President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov as saying.
The issue of participation of the delegation of Turkmenistan in the upcoming fifth summit of the heads of the Caspian states in Aktau (Kazakhstan) on August 12 was discussed at the last government meeting in Ashgabat.
Noting the special importance attached to the development and adoption of the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, being a basic document designed to create a reliable legal foundation for long-term multifaceted cooperation, Berdimuhamedov said Turkmenistan has always supported the solution of all related issues on the basis of mutual respect and universally recognized norms of international law.
A meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the Caspian states was held in 1996 in Ashgabat, at which a special working group on this issue was formed, the message says.
Ashgabat became the venue for the first summit of the Caspian states in 2002. Its results formed the basis of important decisions taken at the summits in Tehran, Baku and Astrakhan, held in 2007, 2010 and 2014, respectively.
Turkmenistan regularly puts forward concrete proposals aimed at optimizing mutually beneficial cooperation between the five coastal countries, acting as a consistent supporter of the diversification of trade and economic relations, the expansion of contacts in the environmental sphere, the effective implementation of the huge natural resource, transport, energy and industry potential, which the strategic Caspian region possesses, said the report.
Earlier, the Turkmengas State Concern said the completion of work on the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea has significantly increased the investment attractiveness of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). Negotiations on the delivery of Turkmen gas to Europe have been underway since 2011. The Southern Gas Corridor, which includes the Trans-Caspian project as well, remains a priority for the EU. The ministers of energy of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic signed the Ashgabat Declaration on energy in May 2015.
The project of laying a 300-kilometer gas pipeline along the Caspian Sea bottom to the shores of Azerbaijan, as previously noted by the interested parties, is optimal for the delivery of Turkmen resources to the European market. Further, Turkmen fuel can be delivered to Turkey, which borders with European countries.
The Chairman of the Turkmengas State Concern Myrat Archiev drew attention to the fact that Turkmenistan continues to work on the project of construction of Trans-Caspian gas pipeline in early May of 2018 at the International Gas Congress in Avaza city.
"The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project has not been removed from the agenda," the chairman said, noting that the East-West main domestic pipeline designed for export supplies as well, has already been laid in this context in Turkmenistan.