PRINCE ANDREW DISCUSSES ENERGY DURING JUNE 27-28

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000965 SIPDIS SCA/CEN; EEB ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON COMMERCE FOR HUEPER PLEASE PASS USTDA DAN STEIN AID/W EE/EA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2019 TAGS: PREL ECON ENRG SOCI TX SUBJECT: PRINCE ANDREW DISCUSSES ENERGY DURING JUNE 27-28 VISIT TO TURKMENISTAN Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Special Envoy of Great Britain on the issues of International Trade and Industry Prince Andrew, Duke of York, visited Turkmenistan July 27-28. Prince Andrew's talks with President Berdimuhamedov and Foreign Minister Meredov centered almost exclusively on energy issues. Andrew advocated for allowing British energy companies to work on onshore, arguing that they have the expertise and technology to drill for subsalt gas. Berdimuhamedov was reluctant to discuss the ongoing dispute with Gazprom, but both he and Meredov raised the Caspian boundary dispute with Azerbaijan. END COMMENT. ¶2. (C) Special Envoy of Great Britain on the issues of International Trade and Industry Prince Andrew, Duke of York, visited Turkmenistan July 27-28. The focus of the visit was energy. UK DCM George Scott told us that Andrew has good relations with both Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev and Azerbaijan President Aliyev. He hopes to develop the same sort of relationship with President Berdimuhamedov. Therefore, he plans to visit Turkmenistan regularly. Andrew visited Turkmenistan for the first time last year. ¶3. (C) The meeting with Berdimuhamedov lasted one hour and 45 minutes. Although press reports of the meeting with Berdimuhamedov mentioned sending Turkmen gas to European markets, including Great Britain, Scott said that the UK interest is not in purchasing Turkmen gas, and that was not really discussed in the meeting. Andrew advocated for allowing Western majors to work onshore and noted that British energy firms have the expertise and technology needed to extract subsalt gas. He tried to get Berdimuhamedov to comment on the ongoing dispute with Gazprom, but the President was reluctant to do so. Instead he discussed the dispute with Azerbaijan and said that the only way to resolve the delimitation of the Caspian boundary with Azerbaijan was through international arbitration. ¶4. (C) In a separate meeting, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov told the Prince that the Turkmen decided to request arbitration, because they were angry over the speech Aliyev gave at Chatham House on July 13. Meredov claimed that while at Chatham House Aliyev had said that Serdar would always be Azeri. (COMMENT: Perhaps this was during a question and answer session, because it does not appear in transcripts of the speech. END COMMENT.) He said that after that speech, Berdimuhamedov had ordered him to take the boundary dispute to arbitration. ¶5. (C) Meredov also expressed anger at BP for stealing Turkmen gas in the disputed zone of the Caspian. Andrew asked if the Turkmen had taken this up with BP headquarters in London, and Meredov replied no. (NOTE: On July 29, the UK embassy received a letter, signed by Meredov, for transmittal by BP, saying that unless BP pays the Turkmen for the gas, the Turkmen will take the company to arbitration. END NOTE.) ¶6. (C) Prince Andrew pressed Meredov on Turkmenistan's ability to meet all its gas commitments. Meredov simply assured him that the obligations would be met. ¶7. (C) Andrew raised the issue of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF),whose project to work in hospitals on drug-resistant TB is coming to an end, and who have received indications from the Turkmen that it won't be renewed. MSF has been in Turkmenistan for ten years. (NOTE: MSF raised this with the British Foreign Office and requested that the Duke of York bring it up during his visit. The UK ambassador had been opposed to dealing with this matter at this level, but was ASHGABAT 00000965 002 OF 002 overruled. END NOTE.) Andrew told Meredov that when he started his involvement in philanthropic work five years ago, he only assisted two organizations - World Food Program and MSF. Therefore, he was worried that they might have to leave Turkmenistan. Meredov responded that he was aware of the case. As MSF is an international organization, he would get to the bottom of the problem. ¶8. (C) UK DCM Scott said that MSF believes that the Turkmen are uncomfortable having them in the hospitals, aware of the prevalence of certain diseases. MSF told him that when the extremely sick show up at hospitals, they are sent home to die so that their statistic does not show up on the hospital report. ¶9. (C) COMMENT: Prince Andrew is the highest ranking British official to visit Turkmenistan since Berdimuhamedov became president. He is right that engagement is the key to building a relationship with the Turkmen. END COMMENT. CURRAN