The Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Belgium Sapar Palvanov on Wednesday visited the Energy Charter Secretariat in Brussel and met with the Secretary-General of the Energy Charter Treaty Guy Lentz.
The purpose of the meeting was to get acquainted and discuss issues of international cooperation in the energy sector of Turkmenistan, Ambassador Palvanov told Business Turkmenistan.
Sapar Palvanov stated that Turkmenistan, a country rich in energy resources, attracting large international investments in this area, attaches great importance to cooperation with the ECT.
The Turkmen envoy also stressed that the country, being one of the world's leading producers of hydrocarbons, is in favor of establishing broad international cooperation on energy security issues. To this end, he emphasized that the joint work within the ECT framework should be focused mainly on international legal regulation of the transit of gas, electricity and oil.
The Secretary-General informed of activities to modernize the ECT and adopt its new edition this year. Guy Lentz expressed special gratitude to the Turkmen side for active and constructive participation in the activities of profile groups and in the negotiations held by the participating countries. He characterized Turkmenistan as a stable and reliable member of the ECT.
Ambassador Palvanov also explained the ongoing work in Turkmenistan to diversify the energy system, the creation and development of environmentally friendly high-tech and export-oriented renewable energy sources, in particular hydrogen, and also confirmed the readiness of the Turkmen side to cooperate with European countries in these areas.
The initiative to modernize the ECT was put forward in Ashgabat in November 2017 at the Energy Charter conference chaired by Turkmenistan, and the new edition of the document is expected to be adopted at the ECT’s upcoming meeting, scheduled to be held on November 22-23, 2022 via video link.