Turkmenistan to Work Towards Supplying Europe

Turkmenistan has pledged to intensify efforts to supply its natural gas to Europe, which has assiduously courted the Central Asian nation in recent years.

President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov's remarks, included in a Foreign Ministry statement issued Tuesday, come ahead of a planned visit to Turkmenistan this weekend by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

There is no immediate sign of a breakthrough on forging the international consensus needed to create a gas pipeline crossing across the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, from where the reserves could then be funneled into planned European routes.

Turkmenistan is holder of the world’s fourth-largest gas reserves.