VZCZCXRO6630
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1073 2771305
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041305Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9491
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 2839
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0660
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0536
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1112
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001073 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EPET RS TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  NARYSHKIN VISIT PROBABLY FOCUSED ON 
PIPELINES AND GAS PRICE 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (U)  According to press reports, during an October 3 meeting in 
Ashgabat, Sergei Naryshkin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and 
Co-Chairman of the Turkmenistan-Russia Intergovernmental Economic 
Cooperation Commission, told Turkmenistan's President Berdimuhamedov 
that experts from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia 
are completing drafts of the relevant intergovernmental agreements 
on the Caspian littoral and Central Asia-Center gas pipelines. 
Naryshkin also reportedly pointed out Russia's interest in giving 
the bilateral relations a "sustainable dynamism."  The next meeting 
of experts of the four countries will be held in Ashgabat in several 
days.  (NOTE: The four countries agreed in May that documents on 
conducting appropriate feasibility studies would be completed by 
September 1.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) COMMENT:  Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of 
Ministers/Foreign Minister Rashit Meredov has gone on record telling 
the Charge that the four countries in May agreed only to a framework 
agreement which carried no immediate obligations.  As recently as 
September 26, President Berdimuhamedov was quoted as saying that "I 
would not want to hide the fact that negotiations on gas prices in 
the new project as well as in our existing contracts are tense." 
Russian mass media, which has made no secret of Russian concern over 
Turkmenistan's new commitment to provide gas to China, has been 
reporting Turkmenistan may raise the price for its natural gas to 
Russia from $100 to $150 per thousand cubic meters.  Naryshkin's 
visit may have been an attempt to try to herd Turkmenistan back into 
the Kremlin fold.  END COMMENT. 
 
HOAGLAND