GEORGIA-TURKMENISTAN Turkmen President visits Georgia, seeks to create corridor to European markets

Record ID: 148451

  • Title: GEORGIA-TURKMENISTAN Turkmen President visits Georgia, seeks to create corridor to European markets
  • Date: 2nd July 2015
  • Summary: TBILISI, GEORGIA (JULY 2, 2015) (REUTERS) GUARD IN FRONT OF GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT, CAR WITH TURKMENISTAN'S PRESIDENT KURBANGULY BERDYMUKHAMEDOV ARRIVING KURBANGULY BERDYMUKHAMEDOV GETTING OUT OF CAR, SHAKING HANDS WITH GEORGIAN PRESIDENT GEORGY MARGVELASHVILI PRESIDENTS GOING TO GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENTS STEPPING UP TO PODIUM GUARDS SALUTING PRESIDENTS PRESIDENTS WATCHI
  • Embargoed: 17th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4UIL8DOWKZ6YICAO9RJIG7GYB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Turkmenistan aims to create the Southern Caucasus corridor to access European markets, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said during his visit to Georgia on Thursday (July 2, 2015).
    Berdymukhamedov was met by his Georgian counterpart Georgy Margvelashvili and a lavish honour guard ceremony.
    After the talks the presidents signed documents, securing the countries' cooperation in several fields. Most important of them were deals aimed at energy security cooperation, Berdymukhamedov said.
    "One of the issues in which we cooperate very closely is energy security cooperation. We want all countries involved in energy projects, including transit countries and consumers, to have equal benefits from energy security cooperation. Another issue that has been mentioned by the Georgian president and I agree with him, is an issue of transport transit corridors. Our cooperation in this direction has a big potential," the Turkmen President said.
    A dentist with a passion for horses and fast cars, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov took over the Central Asian nation after the death of his predecessor in December 2006.
    His rule has been marked by a rising personality cult. Last month, Turkmenistan, which rights groups view as one of the most repressive countries in the world, unveiled a gilded 6-metre-high statue of Berdymukhamedov on horseback perched on a white cliff and celebrated President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's 58th birthday on Monday(June 29) by opening a park in the capital Ashgabat bearing his name.
    Controlling the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves, Berdymukhamedov has used revenues from its exports to build marble-clad palaces across the desert nation of 5.5 million. Modest wages are supplemented with subsidized gasoline and bread and there is free water, electricity and gas for the population. Critical voices are not heard.
    In June the U.S. State Department said in a global report on human rights in 2014, that Turkmenistan's biggest problems were arbitrary arrest, torture and disregard for civil liberties, including restrictions on freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.
    However, some countries are looking for expanding business ties with Turkmenistan.
    Turkey, which is heavily dependent on Russia for natural gas, works to diversify its energy suppliers and is keen to buy more gas from Turkmenistan, Turkish private companies have already agreed to buy 2 bcm of Turkmen gas via Iran through a swap deal.
    Berdymukhamedov said that Turkmenistan is seeking to create a corridor to access European markets.
    "Our task is to create the Southern Caucasus corridor by uniting the Caspian and the Black Sea regions in order to have access to European markets", he said.
    His Georgian counterpart Georgy Margvelashvili confirmed that the countries are going to cooperate in other fields too.
    "We have signed several documents on deepening our cooperation in culture, science, tourism, but the most important was, of course, our economic cooperation. So, we share our joint strategic vision which we discussed at the end of the last year," he said.
    Georgia, which is criss-crossed by pipelines carrying Caspian oil and gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, has suffered a decline in exports and remittances and the government deficit is rising.
    The former Soviet republic's economy and currency are also suffering the side-effects of a plunge in the Russian rouble. In the first five months of this year Georgia's economy has slowed to grow 2.5 percent compared with 4.5 percent in the same period last year, the National Statistics service said on Wednesday (July 1).
    The Georgian government last week halved its growth forecast for this year to 2.0 percent from 5 percent, and decided to reduce budget spending by 140 million lari ($62 million), pointing to serious problems in the economy.
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