China and Turkmenistan yesterday signed a series of cooperation
agreements on trade, technology, education and energy, including
two on sharing natural gas products and gas purchase.
According to a joint statement signed by President Hu Jintao and his Turkmenistan counterpart
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in Beijing, the two countries agreed to
expedite talks on energy partnership to complete the proposed
China-Turkmen gas pipeline at the earliest.
China's largest oil producer, China National Petroleum Corp
(CNPC), and a Turkmen government agency signed the product-sharing
contract, and the gas purchase deal was inked between CNPC and a
Turkmen natural gas firm.
During his meeting with Berdymukhamedov, Hu proposed to enhance
political mutual trust, deepen economic and trade relations,
increase cultural and personal exchanges and strengthen security
partnership.
Hu said: "The two sides should fully develop their advantages
and expand cooperation in trade, oil, gas, transport and
telecommunication."
In response, Berdymukhamedov said his country is ready to strike
deals on natural gas.
Turkmenistan is willing to join China in the fight against
terrorism, separatism and extremism, too, he said.
It is committed to maintaining peace, stability and development
in the region.
The Turkmen president was accorded full military honors,
complete with a 21-gun salute after he arrived in Beijing yesterday
afternoon on a two-day state visit. This is first visit since he
assumed office in December last year after the death of his
predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov.
When Niyazov visited China in April last year, the two countries
signed an agreement, according to which China would buy 30 billion
cubic meters of natural gas a year from the resource-rich Central
Asian country for 30 years. The gas is to be delivered through a
pipeline to be built by 2009.
Analysts, however, said some technical problems have to be
solved - especially in building of the pipeline - to smoothen the
energy cooperation between the two countries, although they already
have a partnership agreement.
"The biggest problem is in building of the pipeline, which will
have to pass through a third country, most probably Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan. So the energy cooperation has to involve other Central
Asian countries, too" Sun Zhuangzhi, a Central Asian expert with
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
Turkmenistan has the largest gas deposits among the former
Soviet republics after Russia.
(China Daily July 18, 2007)
