Ankara, Ashgabat exchange messages on energy cooperation

President Abdullah Gül recently sent a letter to his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, in which he expressed support for Ashgabat’s policy of diversifying energy transportation routes.

“Turkey supports the policy of the friendly and brotherly Turkmenistan on the diversification of energy transportation routes. I am confident that by pursuing this policy, Turkmenistan, with its abundant resources, will make a significant contribution to gas transit to Turkey and through Turkey to the West,” Gül said.

“There is no doubt that the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline that took energy cooperation between Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and China to a new level will also have a positive impact on regional development and stability,” he also said.

Earlier this month, the leaders of China and three Central Asian nations gathered in Turkmenistan for the opening ceremony of the natural gas pipeline from the energy-rich region to China. The leaders assembled at the Samandepe gas field in eastern Turkmenistan to open the pipeline leading through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan into China’s far western Xinjiang region.

The pipeline is the culmination of Chinese efforts to secure energy supplies for its fast-growing economy. The route will also enable gas producers in the region to diversify their exports away from Russia, which has exercised a virtual stranglehold over Central Asian energy supplies since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In his letter, Gül also highlighted Ankara’s expectation that Turkmen gas will be transported to the West through Turkey, saying such a choice would strengthen Ashgabat’s energy policy.

/TODAY'S ZAMAN/