SEPTEMBER 29 VISIT OF ST. PERSBURG GOVERNOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001427 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2019 TAGS: PREL ECON ETRD TX RS SUBJECT: SEPTEMBER 29 VISIT OF ST. PERSBURG GOVERNOR VALENTINA MATVIYENKO TO TURKMENISTAN Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Russian Embassy DCM Aleksey Demin briefed us November 5 on the September 29 visit of St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko. According to Demin, two construction contracts totaling $700 million were signed. One was for building bridges, roads,and highways in Ashgabat and Ahal province. The other was for road construction in Avaza. The two sides also agreed to open trade representations -- a Turkmen one in St. Petersburg and a St. Pete one in Ashgabat. They also agreed that Turkmenistan would send students for specialist training in St. Petersburg. Lastly, the two sides agreed to prepare new agreements and protocols on bilateral cooperation. ¶2. (U) These new contracts build on an already well-developed relationship between St. Petersburg and Turkmenistan, according to the Turkmen state-run newspaper Neytralniy Turkmenistan. An article on September 30 cited previous successful projects by power generation companies Silovaya Mashina and Yarovit Energo as examples. The article also announced that St. Petersburg companies would invest in projects in the Avaza tourist zone. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: That Turkmen President Berdimhamedov would be willing to meet with a governor of a city shows the breadth and depth of the Russian relationship with Turkmenistan. The Russians also appear to be savvy in handling the Turkmen. They are willing to invest in Avaza, Berdimhamedov's pet projet, and they are willing to sign business deals under that auspices of bilateral agreements. Their efforts have been rewarded with the contracts they signed, and with the great attention Matviyenko's visit got, including almost two pages of coverage in a four-page newspaper. END COMMENT. CURRAN