Turkmenistan is ready to supply its natural gas and electricity to Central Asian countries and through their territories to foreign markets on mutually beneficial terms and on a long-term basis, Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov announced at the fifth Consultative Meeting of Heads of Central Asian States in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Thursday.
To this end, President Berdimuhamedov called for the creation of a new form of five-sided interaction the Energy Dialogue of Central Asian Countries, according to the official Turkmen media.
"The region is currently in the process of forming political, legal and economic conditions for sustainable energy partnership aimed at satisfying both intra-regional demand and access to world markets through international transit corridors,” Serdar Berdimuhamedov stated in his speech.
The summit gathered Heads of State of five Central Asian countries. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has also joined the summit as an honored guest.
Turkmenistan has the world's fourth largest proven reserves of natural gas after Russia, Iran and Qatar. The largest consumer of natural gas of Turkmenistan is China (more than 30 billion cubic meters annually). Turkmenistan also supplies gas to Russia and through swap operations to Azerbaijan via Iran.