MFA MEREDOV TELLS BOUCHER TURKMENISTAN EAGER FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ASHGABAT 000204

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STATE FOR SCA
NSC FOR DEHART

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL TX US
SUBJECT: MFA MEREDOV TELLS BOUCHER TURKMENISTAN EAGER FOR
NEXT STEPS IN COOPERATION

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Jennifer Brush for reasons 1.4 (B
) and (D).

Summary
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1. (C) Foreign Minister Rashit Meredov accepted Assistant
Secretary Boucher's proposal to send U.S. experts in five

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areas -- education and health; economic reform, business
development and agriculture; energy; political development
and human rights; security -- to Turkmenistan over the coming
weeks as a next step. Boucher stressed that the United
States must see signs that change was ongoing in
Turkmenistan, including on Red Cross visits, travel and
access to information. The two men touched briefly on
regional cooperation and electricity for Afghanistan. End
Summary.

Meredov Has a Busy Day
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2. (C) Boucher met with Meredov on February 15 in a
70-minute meeting. (Note: Meredov attended all of President
Berdimuhammedov's many bilateral meetings and had many
one-on-one meetings with visiting dignitaries as well on
February 15. End Note.) Notwithstanding his hectic pace,
Meredov, listening carefully to ensure the embassy's
translator was on-message, seemed focused and relaxed,
occasionally even joking with Boucher and other delegation
members. He welcomed the progression of U.S. visitors to
Ashgabat since President Niyazov's death and stressed the
"good opportunities" that the visits had presented for the
bilateral relationship and the concerns of both countries.
The meetings had covered a broad range of significant issues;
each issue -- security, and humanitarian and economic affairs
-- was of top significance, and Turkmenistan would seriously
study all U.S. proposals.

Boucher: Need to Resolve Issues Affecting Cooperation
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3. (C) Noting that the assistance delegation led by
Assistance Coordinator Tom Adams was the largest inter-agency
group ever to visit Turkmenistan, Boucher stated that the
delegation demonstrated the U.S. interest in cooperation with
Turkmenistan. The United States was ready to move forward on
expanding existing areas of cooperation and implementing new
ones in education, economic reform (including private
business),elections, constitutional reform, and development
of media and a more active political society. The United
States was not looking to Turkmenistan to change everything
overnight, but rather, needed to see signs that change was
ongoing and that there was a potential for development.
Systematic, step-by-step change was essential. In that
respect, there were two issues that affected how the United
States could do its work in Turkmenistan:

-- Visas. There had been many problems with getting visas
for U.S. experts to enter Turkmenistan. A USAID employee had
been denied a visa, as had experts on law, accounting, and
embassy security. Hopefully, Turkmenistan could find a
smoother system for visa issuance that would avoid further
complications for cooperative programs.

-- Lack of direct contacts. Turkmenistan was one of the few
countries in the world where the embassy still had to work
through diplomatic notes and to arrange all contacts through
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While the United States
recognized the importance of coordinating policy, embassy
personnel needed to be able to have direct contacts with
their counterparts if the United States was to have an
active, normal bilateral relationship.

Turkmenistan's Priorities: Education...

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4. (C) Meredov said that, as had been born out in Boucher's
meeting with Berdimuhammedov, Turkmenistan wanted cooperation
in education. Noting the breadth of U.S. exchanges and
training programs that already existed in Turkmenistan,
Meredov emphasized that education was a "necessary direction
for further interaction and cooperation." If any problems
came up, then the embassy and "we" would resolve them. He
emphasized that his use of "we" meant that he could speak for
the president.

...Economic Reform...
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5. (C) Meredov also welcomed continuing cooperation on
economic reform and development of entrepreneurship. There
already were good USAID programs for Turkmenistan accountants
and economists, including through the Union of Economists.
He seemed surprised when the Charge noted that this was,
nonetheless, one of the areas that was being disrupted by
visa refusals. After USAID Regional Director Christopher
Crowley added that USAID had also run into problems with the
Ministry of Education refusing to recognize diplomas from the
accountants program, Meredov quickly changed pace, proposing
that USAID should send a delegation to Turkmenistan to meet
with the Ministries of Education and Economy and Finance to
work on merging course requirements with Turkmenistan's
accreditation requirements. Crowley offered to give the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs a list of USAID programs already
existing in the region that could quickly be introduced to
Turkmenistan, including in agriculture.

...and Elections...
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6. (C) Meredov noted that Boucher had already discussed
cooperation on elections with Berdimuhammedov and already
knew the president wanted to improve the work of the Central
Election Commission. Boucher reiterated U.S. eagerness to be
involved, and expressed as well U.S. satisfaction that
Turkmenistan had involved the OSCE in developing its
electoral process in the future.

Meredov: "We" Will Resolve Any Impediments
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7. (C) Meredov promised that "we" would assist with any
problems with visas, since Turkmenistan had already agreed to
the programs. When the Charge noted that the embassy
frequently found itself caught in the middle between the
State Service for Registration of Foreign Citizens, which was
responsible for issuing visas, and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Meredov said he understood and would try to resolve
the problem. He would discuss the problem further with the
embassy and find a solution.

Boucher Proposes Next Steps
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8. (C) As a next step, Boucher proposed to send experts in
five areas -- education and health; economic reform, private
business development and agriculture; energy; political
development and human rights; and security -- to Turkmenistan
in the coming weeks. Meredov agreed, joking that the embassy
needed more of a workload.

Turkmenistan Wants to Participate in Regional Programs
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9. (C) Boucher noted U.S. efforts to promote a regional
approach to issues, including trade, combating narcotics
trafficking, and security. He noted that the biggest problem
the United States faced in promoting this approach was

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Uzbekistan, a "big country in the middle" that was blocking
all efforts. When Boucher asked Meredov for advice, Meredov
laughed. Turkmenistan, Meredov said, was open to regional
cooperation and tried to participate in regional conferences,
including counternarcotics meetings in Dushanbe and Vienna,
and the electricity conference in Istanbul, though it might
not always be active. Nonetheless, Turkmenistan wanted to
continue participating in U.S.-sponsored regional events, as
well as those sponsored by the OSCE, United Nations and
European organizations, all of which were "useful."

Turkmenistan Eager to Provide Electricity to Afghanistan
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10. (C) In response to a question from Boucher, Meredov
denied that Turkmenistan was feeling the effects on its water
supply of Tajikistan's decision to build dams, because
Tajikistan had talked a great deal and signed Memoranda of
Understanding, but had not yet begun building the dams. The
problem, according to Meredov, was that nobody wanted to
invest in building dams in Tajikistan because there was no
profit. To be profitable, Tajikistan needed markets for its
hydropower. Where could it sell its power, he asked, since
neither Afghanistan and Pakistan had the money to pay.
Boucher disagreed with Meredov's comment that Pakistan did
not have the money, noting that there would be electric lines
running from Tajikistan to Pakistan in two years.
Tajikistan's real problem was that it had not created an
environment favorable for investment and marketing. Rather
than seeking to promote investment, it had sought to adhere
to central planning. Boucher also noted that the Europeans,
Japanese and United States all had programs; a U.S. goal was
to promote better coordination. The United States hoped to
work through the Central Asian Economic Coordination (CAREC)
program of the Asian Development Bank to facilitate work on
economic and trade issues. Meredov stressed that he was not
wishing Tajikistan, a fraternal country, ill. Turkmenistan
wanted its "brothers" to "have what God gave them."


11. (C) Meredov noted that President Niyazov had agreed to
supply energy to Afghanistan when asked by Afghanistan
Minister of Energy Khan. Turkmenistan had gas, and it was
easier to produce electricity from gas than by building dams.
Boucher said that there would be two electrical systems, one
in northern Afghanistan, and the other in the south; they
would have some energy generation potential. The United
States hoped that Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
would supply the electricity to Afghanistan; the combination
of gas and hydropower was a good one, so the United States
was glad to hear of Turkmenistan's conversation with
Afghanistan on the issue.

Meredov Willing to Discuss Anything
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12. (C) Meredov asked whether there were any other issues,
stating that he was willing to discuss anything. If he was
unable to provide an answer immediately, it did not mean that
Turkmenistan was unwilling to engage in discussion. Noting
that he had earlier stressed the need for signs that
Turkmenistan was moving forward, Boucher clarified that such
signs could include allowing the Red Cross to visit prisons,
opening access to information on the Internet, freeing up
travel, and moving towards other improvements, such as more
open elections this year and next year. The United States
was willing to work with Turkmenistan in these areas. And,
as the United States saw signs of change, there would be even
more eagerness for further cooperation.

Comment
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13. (C) Meredov was more confident than post has ever before
seen him and clearly wanted to communicate that he had the

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president's support. While Meredov's assertions that
Berdimuhammedov, too, wants change are encouraging, the
United States needs to continue calibrating its response to
the actual actions that the government takes. End Comment.


14. (U) A/S Boucher has cleared this message.
BRUSH