China and Turkmenistan pledge to be long-term energy partners

Recently, China and Turkmenistan vowed to be long-term energy partners. The two sides made the pledge in a joint declaration following talks between visiting Chinese president, XI Jinping, and his Turkmenian counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedow. Xi’s arrival in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, marks the first stop of his first trip to Central Asia.

Turkmenistan-China pipeline

In the document, both sides pledge to promote bilateral energy cooperation, and to push forward their natural gas pipeline project. On the Turkmenistan-China pipeline, both sides agree to take measures to guarantee a safe operation of Line A and Line B. In addition, the two nations vow to make joint efforts to complete the construction of Line C and Line D.

According to the document, the pipeline, which will be the world’s longest natural gas pipeline, will achieve the annual transportation of 65 billion m3 of natural gas to China by 2016. They will also set up a cooperation mechanism to ensure security of the natural gas projects, the paper said.

When meeting reporters, Xi announced that the “two countries will be long-term, stable and reliable energy partners”. Berdymukhamedow followed Xi’s statement, telling reporters “today is an important day for Turkmen-Sino relations. That means from today on, no matter how the regional and global situation changes, developing the Turkmen-Sino relationship will always be the priority of both nations”.

Edited from various sources by Hannah Priestley-Eaton

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/04092013/china_and_turkmenistan_pledge_to_be_long-term_energy_partners/