ASHGABAT, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi discussed on Wednesday the state of and prospects for bilateral relations, reported the press service of the Turkmen president.
“Turkmenistan seeks to develop the multilateral interstate dialogue with China, long-standing and traditional partner,” said Berdymukhamedov. “This cooperation meets not only the interests of peoples of the two countries, but is also a factor for consolidating peace and stability,” the president added.
The sides noted at the meeting that “the commissioning of the world’s longest transnational Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline was a veritable breakthrough in the development of Turkmen-Chinese cooperation”. Apart from cooperation in the fuel and energy complex, the sides discussed “joint projects in energy, communications, the chemical, building, textile and food industries, which are key segments of the national economies of the two countries”.
Questions of the coming visit to China by the Turkmen president were one of topics under discussion. “The Chinese side gives special attention to the coming visit by the Turkmen leader to the PRC (next November) in the context of development of cooperation with Turkmenistan,” noted the Chinese minister.
The sides intend to sign an agreement during the visit on additional deliveries of gas to the tune of 20 billion cubic metres. In April China appropriated Turkmenistan the second large credit (4.1 billion US dollars) for the development of the large gas deposit “South Iolotan”.
In 2010 export of Turkmen gas to China amounted only to six billion cubic metres, and 17 billion cubic metres are planned for this year, which will make that country the largest consumer of gas from Turkmenistan. Russia and Iran are other customers of Turkmenistan gas.