JULY 1-6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan turned itself into an international windsurfing destination for a week when the world’s top racers converged on the Caspian Sea. Like other former Soviet states, Turkmenistan is looking to promote itself. Earlier this year it announced that it had secured a stage of the global windsurfing series.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Afghan security forces killed 14 Taliban fighters in a gun battle along the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border, media reported. Although the battle didn’t involve Turkmen forces, it acts as a reminder the Taliban operates on the edge of its border. Turkmenistan has blamed several attacks on its border posts on the Taliban.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)
JULY 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said the notoriously stand-offish country would open up an embassy in Bishkek, the second new diplomatic outpost it has announced in the last few days.
Last month, Mr Berdymukhamedov said Turkmenistan would also open an office in Tbilisi. The common thread is that these are both countries in the former Soviet Union that Turkmenistan is now partnering with on energy projects.
In Georgia, Turkmenistan is interested in utilising the South Caucasus energy corridor to Europe. In Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan sees an increasingly important partner for sending gas to China, its key client.
Over the past few years, Turkmenistan has transformed itself into a major gas exporter. It has become rich and increasingly open. As well as funding various follies, such as an Olympic stadium and building white marble facades around its government buildings, some funds have gone into burnishing Turkmenistan’s image abroad. This includes opening new embassies.
Mr Berdymukhamedov’s predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, was a notorious recluse. Part of Mr Berdymukhamedov’s recent success has been his willingness to open up to the world, a strategy that appears to be continuing.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)
JULY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has completed a 700km stretch of railway linking Iran and Kazakhstan, media reported quoting officials. The railway, which runs through the Karakum Desert, is another important exit route for goods and oil being exported out of Central Asia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)
JUNE 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting Turkmenistan’s more international outlook, media reported that it would open an embassy in Georgia soon. Since Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov become president in 2007 Turkmenistan has looked to increase its international status. Georgia is part of a South Caucasus gas pipeline network that Turkmenistan wants to use to export to Europe.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 190, published on July 2 2014)
JULY 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Despite taking a lot of criticism in Kazakhstan for its management of the Caspian Sea Kashagan oil project it appears that Central Asia is still high on the target list for future projects at Italy’s ENI.
ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi visited Ashgabat and spoke with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov about increasing ENI’s presence in Turkmenistan. Reuters reported that Mr Descalzi had said that he wanted ENI to carry out a feasibility study on how to develop Turkmenistan’s gas sector.
“Concerning the development of future cooperation, the parties discussed options for gas valorization, agreeing that ENI will conduct a feasibility study in this regard,” ENI said in a short statement.
“ENI’s CEO also confirmed the company’s interest in expanding operations in offshore exploration.”
Last month ENI was wooing Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. It signed a deal with Kazakhstan to develop a new site in the Caspian Sea.
This appeared to please ENI’s investors and its share price rose 1.6% on the Italian stock market.
If ENI can secure a foothold in Turkmenistan, which has the world’s fourth largest gas reserves, the Italian stock market will no doubt like that too.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 190, published on July 2 2014)
JUNE 275 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has begun to collect an estimated 1.6m tonnes of grain this year, media reported. Since 2010 when it first started exporting grain, Turkmenistan has become an increasingly important global grain producer. Officials have said that it wants to boost grain production further.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 190, published on July 2 2014)
JUNE 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to expand its economy beyond the obvious gas sector, Turkmen officials appear to have hit on the hot idea of developing its tourist sector using a hole in the ground that burns natural gas.
Dubbed “The Gates to Hell”, Turkmen officials have been talking up its allure to international tourists.
“Landmarks such as the burning crater are hugely interesting both to people who love to travel and to researchers in various areas,” AFP quoted Ovez Kurbanov of the National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna, as saying.
“Our main task is to create an attractive image of Turkmenistan as a tourism destination.”
The crater, 270km from Ashgabat and roughly the size of half a football pitch, has been burning since 1971 when the earth collapsed during exploration by Soviet scientists. They lit the fumes coming from the pit and it is still burning today.
Turkmenistan international profile has become so entwined with gas that even its main tourist attraction is a homage to it.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 190, published on June 25 2014)
JUNE 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Ashgabat have ordered residents to remove air conditioning units from the outside of their buildings as part of their drive to beautify the city, the BBC reported. It reported that fights had broken out over the order. Ashgabat swelters in the summer with temperatures around 40C.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 190, published on June 25 2014)
JUNE 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – During a trip to Ashgabat by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov awarded a $4b contract to build gas processing plants to South Korea’s LG and Hyundai. Ms Geun-hye has been on a week-long tour of Central Asia that has taken in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan too.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 190, published on June 25 2014)