On November 5, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov arrived in Belgium for his first official state visit to the EU headquarters in Brussels. In the framework of a three-day visit, the Turkmen leader met with the Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, Benito Ferrero-Waldner; the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso; the Commissioner for trade, Peter Mandelson; Energy Commissioner Andres Piebalgs; EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, as well as EU Parliament Chief Gans Pettering and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. In addition to talks with EU officials, a wide delegation of Turkmen representatives headed by the president also met with Belgian officials on issues of energy and trade cooperation on a bilateral basis.

Under the leadership of the late president Niyazov, Turkmenistan’s cooperation with the EU was characterized as rather inert and had been limited to a low level of trade exchange. Although Turkmenistan has been participating in several EU projects such as TACIS and TACIS-TEMPUS, no significant efforts to enhance trade cooperation had ever been noticed. According to the European Commission’s External Relations report, Turkmenistan’s imports from EU in 2005 amounted to €451 million, while its exports to the EU constituted €367 million. Yet statistically, over 90 percent of Turkmenistan’s export consisted of mainly mineral fuels and this has also declined by an annual average of 10.5 percent.

Although no real groundbreaking agreements were signed during Berdimuhammedov’s visit to Brussels, the visit overall was announced as successful, considering the level and wide scope of talks held. Amongst the many issues being discussed, Berdimuhammedov’s main objective was to attract more European investment in Turkmenistan’s strategic energy sector. Reportedly, the construction of the Nabucco gas pipeline planned to import gas from Azerbaijan and Central Asia to Europe was specifically discussed during the meetings. Also, within the context of an informal meeting, EU Energy Commissioner Andres Piebalgs and Berdimuhammedov identified the priority directions in energy cooperation, that of conducting geological surveys, providing service at major oil wells, and developing hydrocarbon resources including in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. In this context, Berdimuhammedov emphasized the need for the greater cooperation of European companies in the reconstruction process of Turkmenistan’s two giant oil refineries in the port city of Turkmenbashi and another one in the city of Seidi closer to the Uzbek border.

Piebalgs noted that European companies are highly interested in investing not only in the oil and gas sector, but also in power engineering in Turkmenistan. It is noteworthy that some of the European companies such as ENEX Process Engineering SA have long been investing in Turkmenistan’s power engineering. ENEX is planning to produce clean energy saving technologies and is currently building a plant to produce solar and wind energy in Turkmenistan. Besides, the company is implementing a major US$123 million contract of building a compressor plant “Dovletabat 3” with a production capacity of 20 billion cubic meters of gas per annum. As Bogdan Ostashuk, ENEX representative in Turkmenistan says, the company is envisaging another major project to produce semi-crystalline silicon and plasticine that are used in the production of solar batteries as well.

As attracting more European investment in Turkmen energy sector was being discussed, Peter Mandelson particularly emphasized the creation of a favorable investment climate for foreign businesses and the improvement of the Turkmen legislature. For his part, Berdimuhammedov assured his EU counterparts that closer cooperation with the EU is Turkmenistan’s main priority, and guaranteed avoiding the so-called ‘double standard’ policies in bilateral issues. Also, on the third day of his visit to Brussels, Berdimuhammedov spoke in front of the business elite community consisting of the representatives of over 80 major European companies. At the beginning of his formal speech, the president informed the investors that new gas deposits have recently been discovered in the Southern Yoloten gas extraction fields. Anticipating any possible doubts and to reassure the European companies regarding sufficiency of hydrocarbon resources, Berdimuhammedov reaffirmed that estimates of Turkmenistan’s current reserves amount to 12 billion tons of crude oil and 6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. In order to get acquainted with the ongoing reforms and work in gas and oil fields, Berdimuhammedov invited European counterparts to visit to Turkmenistan. An EU delegation led by Energy Commissioner Andres Piebalgs is expected to arrive in Ashgabat on the occasion of the international exhibition and conference on Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan scheduled for mid-December. This exhibition also coincides with the official inauguration of the UN Regional Center of Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia, to be located in Ashgabat. It is noteworthy that the earlier announced “EU House” or European Information Center in Ashgabat will also be opened in early 2008.

All in all, President Berdimuhammedov’s visit to Brussels caught the attention of major European investors. This visit put a symbolic start and a new stage in EU-Turkmenistan relations. Relying solely on Russian pipelines for its gas exports, Turkmenistan now seems to have reached a new market for its enormous reserves of hydrocarbon resources.