Turkmenistan, Türkiye Discuss Energy, Trade Issues

Turkmen foreign minister discussed strengthening partnership in trade, transport, energy and information security issues in a recent meeting with the Turkish president.

Turkmenistan's Foreign Minister Rashit Meredow, who also the Deputy Prime Minister, led a delegation to Türkiye for bilateral talks and political consultations on August 13-14.

On August 13, Meredow met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and the two sides discussed a wide range of issues including political, diplomatic, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian fields, Turkmen news website Orient.tm reported.

They expressed satisfaction with the pace of development of cooperation between the two countries, emphasizing the mutual desire to strengthen their bilateral and multilateral partnership.

On August 14, the Turkmen and Turkish foreign ministers held political consultations, and underlined the traditionally high level of interstate relations “which are dynamically and successfully developing”.

The sides called for coordinating efforts to expand economic activity and emphasized the role of the Turkmen-Turkish Interstate Commission for Economic Cooperation and the Turkmen-Turkish Business Council. They also discussed interparliamentary collaboration, and partnership in the fields of energy, transport, healthcare and education, the report said.

The delegations also held separate consultations on consular affairs and visa regulations, as well as a meeting of the information security departments of their foreign ministries.

In the field of information security, the ministers discussed promising areas of cooperation in ensuring cyber-security and countering possible threats associated with the use of virtual technologies.

Meanwhile, some experts suggest that the main topics of discussions between the two Turkic countries were facilitating Turkmen gas supplies to Türkiye via Iran and Azerbaijan, and defense cooperation. During the two-day visit, the two countries also pledged to increase bilateral trade to $5 billion and begin developing gas transportation projects.

The Turkmen delegation also included Defence Minister Begench Gundogdyyev, who held cooperation talks with his Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler behind closed doors. The meeting most likely discussed issues of coordination of actions, the purchase of Turkish military hardware and the potential escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

Earlier, Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow told the visiting Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar that Ashgabat was ready to develop cooperation with Ankara in the energy sector, noting that transporting Turkmen gas to Türkiye, and then to European countries was "one of the most important issues now".

At a meeting on July 31, the Turkmen president also mentioned that Turkmenistan was building a combined power station on the coast of the Caspian Sea, which would allow it to export electricity to Türkiye and other countries.

In mid-May, the Turkish and Azerbaijani authorities reached an agreement on the transportation of Turkmenistan's natural gas to Türkiye via Azerbaijan and Georgia. The deal also included bringing Azerbaijani and surrounding regional energy resources to Türkiye, some of which would then be transported to European markets.

The Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) plays a significant role in terms of ensuring natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Türkiye and Europe. The 1,850 km-long (1,150 mi) TANAP is the largest and middle chunk of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) mega pipeline. TANAP stretches from the eastern border of Türkiye to its western border with Greece. The South Caucasus Pipeline, which measures 691 km (429 mi) in length, is the first segment of SGC connecting Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye. The European part of the corridor — the 878 km-long (546 mi) Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) — starts in Greece to connect the country with Albania and Italy.

Ankara already receives about 60-70 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran via pipelines as well as from several other countries as liquefied natural gas.

In recent years, Ashgabat has been pushing for the construction of a Caspian pipeline to link Turkmenistan with Azerbaijan. Russia was reportedly opposed to the planned construction of a new Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan pipeline via the Caspian Sea, but this has not deterred the parties, including Türkiye, from promoting the project since 2022.