President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President Islam Karimov had a telephone conversation on October 18 at the initiative of the Uzbek side.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan expressed bewilderment at the position of the Russian official bodies on the enhanced cooperation between Turkmenistan and the European Union in the sphere of energy.

“In May 2008, Turkmenistan and the European Union signed a memorandum on cooperation in the energy sector. From this time on, regular Turkmen-European meetings were held at various levels. A special working group at the level of energy agencies has been created. The logical result of this process was the approval by the EU on September 12 of the European Commission mandate to conduct negotiations on construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline. This event, in fact, kicked off the negotiation process with participation of stakeholders on development of a document that will clearly define the principal provisions relating to supply of natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe.

These days the most frequently mentioned geographical names in the news of the leading news agencies, printed and electronic publications all over the world are Southern Yoloten-Osman and Yashlar. They are the key-note of numerous comments of experts and analysts specializing in the oil and gas sector which is a sphere of core interests of the world business. The supergiant block of the unique Southern Yoloten-Osman, Minara and Yashlar fields ranking among the recent greatest discoveries on the energy map of Eurasia is placed by its gas potential as the world’s second largest gas field. This fact has enhanced Turkmenistan’s status as one of the world’s energy superpowers.

In 2011, the expenditure part of the state budget of Turkmenistan will be increased by 28.3 percent, or nearly by US $ 5 billion, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said at a Cabinet meeting yesterday. According to him, Turkmenistan will allocate US $ 741 million for reforms in the education system, up 18.5 percent on 2010; US $ 245 million for reforms in the health sector, 20.7 per cent more on 2010. Turkmenistan will allocate US $ 84 million for the cultural sphere, a 23.2 percent increase on 2010.