Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan created new telecom company

APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Communications and its subsidiary, Turkmen Telecom, have created a new telecoms company called Ashgabat Shaher Telefon Ulgamy (ASTU).

ASTU, which means Ashgabat Urban Telephone Network, is tasked with improving the efficiency of the network and appears to be a part of Turkmenistan’s strategy to boost its telecoms networks.

“High-quality communication services, as well as high-speed channels to connect to broadband Internet and data transmission are ensured,” media quoted the government owned Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper as saying.

“Laying of transnational fibre-optic communication lines continues with the aim of expanding the interstate telephone traffic.”

The government-approved press release on the creation of the new company was the only information available.

Last month, the government also approved an ambitious plan to construct a fibre- optic line between the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi and Baku, Azerbaijan.

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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan break ranks on Russia sanctions

APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan have reportedly broken ranks with other former Soviet states and declined to sign a memo calling for sanctions on Russia to be dropped.

At a meeting of foreign ministers in Bishkek most members of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) agreed to back the petition which was to be sent to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (April 3).

But Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan — along with Ukraine and Moldova — declined to sign the document, the local language service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

All three of the Central Asian and South Caucasus countries have form.

Azerbaijan’s cause is probably a sovereignty issue. It doesn’t want to set a precedent that would allow the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh to drift further from its control.

Uzbekistan’s reasons are more deep-rooted and linked to its traditional unilateral stance on issues concerning Russia.

And Turkmenistan could be just aiming to irritate Russia.

It appears that Ashgabat is locked in a worsening row with Russia over gas supplies and the devaluation of the rouble. Earlier this year, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymkuhamedov blamed Russia for Central Asia’s economic troubles.

Regardless, the failure to secure the full backing of CSTO members in Bishkek is a — largely overlooked — diplomatic miss for Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

India pushes TAPI project with Turkmenistan

APRIL 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – India’s external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, flew to Ashgabat to meet Turkmen officials to, possibly, push the TAPI pipeline project along. TAPI aims to carry Turkmen gas to India via Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Turkmenistan wants cotton JV with Belarus

APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan and Belarus plan to set up a joint venture for cotton products, news agencies reported quoting a senior Belarusian official after a meeting with Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan is looking for ways to diversify its economy from energy.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Turkmenistan appoints agent to check on Caspian Sea project

APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Construction of the Turkmenbashi International Sea Port on the Caspian Sea has been ongoing since 2013 but the Turkmen authorities have only just officially appointed a controlling agent to check on progress of the project, according to press reports.

The Italian company Rina Services have now been made the official controllers of the project.

The Turkmenbashi International Sea Port is a crucial piece of infrastructure for Turkmenistan as it should open it up further to Europe.

Inaugurated in August 2013 by Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, then PM and now president, the new Turkmenbashi port is being built by the Turkish company Gap Insaat for $1.5b.

Rina Services will be awarded $10m to act as the controller, a key third-party role to check the progress and the execution of the project.

The company, based out of the port city of Genoa, has certified Dragon Oil’s pipelines in Turkmenistan and is also active in Kazakhstan, where it audits and supervises Kashagan’s D-Island.

Michele Francioni, CEO at Rina Services, told the Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore: “(Rina Services) has had a presence there [Turkmenistan] for some time with deeply rooted local organisations.”

According to the plan, construction should be completed by 2017 . The port should facilitate east-west trade.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Turkmenistan asks US for military help

MARCH 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has asked the US for military aid to help it stop the spread north of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Eurasianet reported quoting a US general’s statement to Congress. Turkmenistan has been warning for months about Taliban activity on its border.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Berdymukhamedov to visit South Korea

MARCH 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov will fly to Seoul for talks with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye on April 10, a meeting that will underline improved relations. South Korean companies, including LG and Hyundai, have won major contracts in Turkmenistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Ukraine wants to buy Turkmen gas

MARCH 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking for options to boost its energy supplies and reduce its reliance on Russia, Ukraine has said that it wants to restart importing gas from Turkmenistan.

At a meeting in Kiev, Turkmen foreign minister Rashid Meredov shook hands with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and smiled for the cameras. The two men appeared relaxed.

Media said that Mr Poroshenko had proposed re-starting gas supplies from Turkmenistan to Ukraine, stopped in 2006.

“Ukraine is ready and interested in resuming Turkmen gas imports as an alternative source,” Interfax quoted him as saying.

This will suit Turkmenistan’s agenda. It has been looking to increase its client base and has also hit an increasingly anti-Russia note in its public proclamations over the past few years. Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov blames the Kremlin for the recent regional economic downturn. Russia and Turkmenistan have also argued about gas supplies.

The problem with the plan is that to send gas to Ukraine, Turkmenistan will have to rely on pipelines in Kazakhstan and Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

EU wants gas pipeline from Turkmenistan

MARCH 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EU wants to revive a project to build a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Europe, Reuters reported quoting an EU diplomat based in Ashgabat. Since a civil war erupted in Ukraine last year, the EU has tried to work out how to dilute its reliance on Russia for gas supplies.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Turkmenistan wants to increase army

MARCH 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has issued an order to nearly double the size of its army to 100,000 soldiers, media reported.

Although no official reason was given for the increase in the size of the military, the Turkmen government has become increasingly nervous about the spread north of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Last year, news leaked out of Turkmenistan that the authorities had ordered the mobilisation of more officers for its army. Now it appears that it needs more soldiers too.

The Turkmen news website, Chronicles of Turkmenistan, also reported that Russian military observers had been seen patrolling parts of the border with Afghanistan.

Russia and the Central Asian states which border Afghanistan — that’s Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — have all warned about a potential threat to regional stability from the spread north of the Taliban.

Some analysts have said that the governments of these countries are over-stating this threat to play into their security agenda.

Even so, Turkmenistan appears to be pursuing a major mobilisation agenda.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)