Turkmenistan to Open Trade Representative Offices in Russia and China

Ashgabat has made a decision to open Turkmen trade representative offices in the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, an official Turkmen source said today. The representative office will work under the Turkmen Embassies in Moscow and Beijing.

"We hope that opening Turkmen trade representative offices there will create new opportunities for our cooperation," President Berdimuhamedov said at a government meeting.

The Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations were instructed to resolve all necessary issues and provide the appropriate conditions for effective activity at these offices.

Turkmenistan has recently intensified cooperation with the major regions of the Russian Federation, among them - Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, the Sverdlovsk region and other areas of the Russian Federation.

Russia leads the ranking of Turkmenistan's largest trade partners. According to the Russian side, the trade turnover between the two countries is growing steadily. Taking into account the gas supply, it reached $4.3 billion in 2011.

The largest training and trade service centre KAMAZ in Central Asia is located in Ashgabat as the total number of cars of this model in Turkmenistan is more than 10,000..

Cooperation is being developed in the energy sector. Tatneft is operating in the western region of Turkmenistan, while Itera is involved in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.

As for China, the country ranks first in the total volume of Turkmen foreign trade turnover. Work is underway to expand the range of export and import of goods.

China is one of Turkmenistan's long term partners in the oil and gas sector, a clear indication of this was put into operation in 2009. Constructing and commissioning the Turkmenistan-China transnational gas pipeline testifies to this.

According to the two countries 'experts, the volume of Turkmen natural gas supplied to China will reach 44 billion cubic meters from early 2010 to late 2012.

According to the new arrangements, the annual volume of fuel supplied to China in the future will be brought to 65 billion cubic meters by connecting additional communications. Last year, Turkmen gas was supplied to the Guangdong Province pipeline system, one of the most populous and fastest growing regions in China, located on the Pacific coast.