OREANDA-NEWS. April 29, 2009. The International High Level Conference on the Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and Its Role in Ensuring Sustainable Development and International Cooperation which was held in Ashgabat last week ranks among the historic events. Dozens of the official delegations, the heads of the large international organisations – the United Nations, OSCE, Energy Charter, ECO, SCO, CIS, the heads of the governments, foreign economic and energy departments, the representatives of over a hundred of the word’s leading financial institutions and oil and gas companies considered it necessary to take part in the forum, the name of which illustrates the willingness of global community to comprehend and work out the new standards of security and new mechanisms for partnership to address challenges in the third millennium.

The constructive atmosphere reigning during the conference, lively discussion of a wide range of the aspects of international energy cooperation, unanimous support of the initiatives on global energy security put forward and substantially justified by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in the opening speech vividly evidence that Turkmenistan plays a qualitatively new role on the world arena today. It ranks among the states whose profound peacemaking and economic potential is highly valued on global scale and urgently called for and whose resources are successfully used by global community to address urgent problems and challenges of the modern world.

Standing steadfast to the principles of peace, friendship and good neighbourliness Turkmenistan builds its foreign policy strategy aiming to prevent collision of interests, facilitate the integration processes and enhance the intergovernmental economic and humanitarian contacts to promote global peace and wellbeing, social and economic progress. The readiness of the country ranking among the world’s energy producers to place its abundant hydrocarbon resources, its huge energy potential at the service of the whole mankind blended well with the logics of this activity evolving from the Turkmen leader’s progressive policy.

In XXI the lack of energy in different regions of the world has become a global challenge reflecting the problems worldwide piled up over the history of human civilization. Addressing the energy conference President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that the present-day transnational energy system was one of the most vulnerable links of global economy that was conditioned by a number of the circumstances including the lack of the universally recognized international legal control mechanisms, lopsided geography of pipeline routes. It concerned neither prevention measures nor agreements on the particular aspects of transportation of fuel but design of the principal, universal model of the relations on global energy market based on the balance of many-sided interests, coincidence of views on global architecture of energy security, understanding of long-term benefits and advantages of cooperation.

The Ashgabat energy conference launched this process. Calling for further promotion of Turkmenistan’s initiative to elaborate under the aegis of the United Nations the multilateral and complex document defining clearly the rights and obligations of energy producers, transit countries and consumers the conference participants took the decision to submit the proposal on establishment of the expert group responsible for preparing the recommendations on the design of the future international legal document regulating different aspects of international energy relations and transit of energy to the United Nations for consideration.

The conference agenda focused on the environmental problems highlighting introduction of advanced energy technologies and use of the alternative sources of energy. The major topics under discussion included diversification of energy markets and routes of energy transit connecting the Central Asian countries and different regions as well. It particularly concerned integration of the hydrocarbon deposits in the Caspian Sea basin in global energy infrastructure, construction of new energy pipelines towards South Asia. The countries – the members of the European Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the CIS and the Economic Cooperation Organisation endeavour to world out the common energy strategy today.

Thus, it can be rightfully stated that the Ashgabat conference was some kind of recognition of Turkmenistan’s policy on international cooperation – the policy free from either economic situation or political demand except an honest demand for the national interests based on absolute respect to partners for the projects initiated by Turkmenistan on construction of transnational gas pipelines, power transmission lines and other transport and communication facilities going beyond the scope of unique infrastructure geographically connecting Europe and Asia, east and west, north and south. Contouring the multivariate diversified energy system on the Eurasian continent they allow broadening an access of energy producers to international markets and energy consumers to reliable and cost-effective transit of energy. It means that these are the concrete steps which will contribute to addressing the challenge of global energy security, sustainable social and economic development. These are the bridges of friendship, mutual understanding and confidence that Turkmenistan builds between the countries and peoples.

These include, Khurshid Anwar, Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organisation, Bolat Nurgaliev, Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Anatoliy Dron, Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee, CIS Executive Secretary, the high-ranking officials of the European Union, the Islamic Development Bank and other international organisations, the heads of the governments, foreign and energy ministries of a number of the foreign states, notable politicians, scientists and international experts.

According to the participants the conference was a success. Sha Zukang, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, OSCE Secretary General, Andre Mernier, the Secretary General of the Energy Charter Secretariat and other high-ranking officials noted that the relations between Turkmenistan and the United Nations, OSCE and other authoritative organisations profoundly remarkable for mutual understanding and effectiveness contributed to this success.

Headquartering the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia Ashgabat perceives the responsibility of being the regional centre where complicated political problems are negotiated. Thus, along with the peacemaking priorities of international cooperation it is to coordinate collaboration to achieve global energy security.