President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held a video conference meeting on Wednesday with the head of the ARETI International Group of Companies Igor Makarov, the CEO and Partner of King & Spalding law firm Andrew Hruska, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC Suhail Rizvi and the CEO of Legacy financial company and advisor to the ARETI President Eugene Frenkel.
The meeting participants discussed issues related to the development of the energy sector of Turkmenistan and improving the investment climate for attracting capital to various sectors of the economy, the country’s official media reports.
The Head of State stressed that he welcomes the start of the current dialogue on the creation of a consortium of international investors to participate in the implementation of projects in Turkmenistan and announced his readiness to consider proposals from the businesses in all areas.
The Partner of the King & Spalding Law Firm Andrew Hruska, confirming the desire of the companies participating in the current meeting to cooperate with Turkmenistan, introduced his colleagues to the Head of State and acquainted with the activities of the companies, which are specializing in different fields and have solid experience working in many countries of the world.
He noted that the sustainable growth indicators of Turkmen economy and the colossal resource potential of the country determine the ever-growing attention to the intensification of interaction both from other states and leading corporations. In this regard, a number of specific proposals were made during the meeting.
Thanking Andrew Hruska for the proposals, the President of Turkmenistan emphasized that they are in line with the main priorities of the current state policy and expressed the readiness of the Turkmen side to start working out the details of the implementation of the submitted project with the consortium.
In order to facilitate the implementation of the project, the Head of State recommended ARETI as a connecting link and partner.President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that ARETI’s experience in the energy industry and reputation in the country and abroad give confidence that Turkmenistan will be represented in the project in accordance with the vision and strict requirements of the state.
In order to study the project and prepare contract documentation, the relevant Turkmen officials will be instructed to form a working group, which will include representatives of relevant state bodies, the Head of State said, adding that at the next meeting, further steps will be determined to implement the plans.
Continuing the online meeting, Suhail Rizvi, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC, familiarized with the activities of the company he represents and confirmed the desire of the consortium of global financial institutions to invest in projects implemented in Turkmenistan.
He noted that his company supports the vision of the Turkmen side to create a new infrastructure for the development of giant hydrocarbon reserves.
Proposing to record the intentions of the parties regarding the discussed projects in the protocol of the video conference, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that further joint actions in this direction will be discussed within the framework of the next meeting.
Igor Makarov in his speech also expressed the desire of the business structure led by him to transfer funds to the account of the Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov Charitable Fund for Assistance to Children in Need of Guardianship.