TURKMENISTAN: NARYSHKIN VISIT PROBABLY FOCUSED ON

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001073 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR SCA/CEN PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EPET RS TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: NARYSHKIN VISIT PROBABLY FOCUSED ON PIPELINES AND GAS PRICE ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (U) According to press reports, during an October 3 meeting in Ashgabat, Sergei Naryshkin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Co-Chairman of the Turkmenistan-Russia Intergovernmental Economic Cooperation Commission, told Turkmenistan's President Berdimuhamedov that experts from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia are completing drafts of the relevant intergovernmental agreements on the Caspian littoral and Central Asia-Center gas pipelines. Naryshkin also reportedly pointed out Russia's interest in giving the bilateral relations a "sustainable dynamism." The next meeting of experts of the four countries will be held in Ashgabat in several days. (NOTE: The four countries agreed in May that documents on conducting appropriate feasibility studies would be completed by September 1. END NOTE.) ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT: Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers/Foreign Minister Rashit Meredov has gone on record telling the Charge that the four countries in May agreed only to a framework agreement which carried no immediate obligations. As recently as September 26, President Berdimuhamedov was quoted as saying that "I would not want to hide the fact that negotiations on gas prices in the new project as well as in our existing contracts are tense." Russian mass media, which has made no secret of Russian concern over Turkmenistan's new commitment to provide gas to China, has been reporting Turkmenistan may raise the price for its natural gas to Russia from $100 to $150 per thousand cubic meters. Naryshkin's visit may have been an attempt to try to herd Turkmenistan back into the Kremlin fold. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND