Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, June 15 /Trend H.Hasanov/
Negotiations with representatives of German business circles who arrived with a delegation of the Eastern Committee of the German economy are being held at government level in Ashgabat, local media reported on Friday.
Members of the delegation expressed the desire of the leading German companies to participate in the large scale programmes aimed at the modernisation of the national economy that are being implemented in the country, Turkmen Dovlet khabarlary reported.
This committee represents leading business organisations in Germany. Its founders are the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the Federal Association of German Banks (BdB), the Joint Association of German Insurers (GDV), Foreign Trade Association of German Retail Trade (AVE) and the Central Union of German Crafts (ZDH).
The delegation included the heads and specialists of a number of leading German companies engaged in business in the oil and gas industry and energy, transport and communications, trade and financial sectors, agro-industry as well as in several other sectors of the economy. Among them are such companies as Bauer Comp Holding AG, Lemken GmbH, John Deer International GmbH and ThyssenKrup AG among others.
The visit of the representatives of the business circles from one of the developed countries of Europe to Ashgabat is further evidence of the growing interest of western companies to expand mutually beneficial partnerships with Turkmenistan on a wide range of trade and economic relations, the media said.
A number of meetings were held at the Ministry of Economy and Development, Ministry of Energy and Industry and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Turkmenistan. Greater cooperation in the energy sector was discussed.
Trade, economic, transport and communication, the agriculture sector, as well as science and education were identified among the priority areas.
'As the guests stressed, an important factor for the further development of business contacts is the promising Turkmen market and favourable conditions created therein for the investment and operation of foreign companies. In this context, the German partners expressed their willingness to provide the Turkmen side with their existing solid experience and advanced technologies in various sectors', the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper writes.
Germany is significantly represented in the local market by oil and gas companies which were previously carrying out such projects as the construction of installations for the production of lubricating oils and paraffin wax to clean up diesel fuel from the water at the oil refinery in Turkmenbashi and the construction of a gas compressor station in Korpeje.
There is cooperation with RWE, one of the leading traders of natural gas to European Union markets with which the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) on the development of offshore fields in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea and the transportation of Turkmen gas to Europe is signed.
In April 2009 the government of Turkmenistan signed a long term memorandum with the company which is a shareholder of the gas pipeline project Nabucco. Hydrocarbon resources of the country can be connected to the transnational communication via the Caspian Sea, thanks to the construction of a small length of branches (300 kilometres) along the bottom of the sea to the coast of Azerbaijan.
Europe expects to diversify sources of gas consumption, a significant portion of which at this stage assures Russia with help of the Caspian resources.
Ashgabat regularly asserts its right for direct access to Europe and until recently, this was closed by supplies through Russian pipelines and Iran. At the end of 2009 the country received access to a new alternative for the first time, thanks to the commissioning of the gas pipeline to China.
