Russia once again began making concerted overtures to Turkmenistan this month, after a long period of strained relations following the drastic reduction of Gazprom's purchase of Turkmen gas and disputes about compensation after a pipeline explosion in April 2009.
After stalling for months on a price agreement over Turkmenistan’s demand for higher-costing gas to supply the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, India unexpectedly undercut Pakistan by striking a bilateral deal directly with Turkmenistan for an undisclosed amount, Pakistan’s media reported.
In late July, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman led a delegation to Ashgabat for talks at the Turkmen Foreign Ministry about Afghanistan and regional security.
Poland has announced that negotiations on the Nabucco pipeline are to take place in Warsaw in September, AFP reported, citing the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza. Although Poland is not a member of the Nabucco consortium, it currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
Poland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, obtained preliminary agreement from EU members to give the European Commission a mandate to hold gas talks with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
A powerful earthquake registering 6.2 on the Richter scale struck Ferghana Valley early July 20, affecting Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The epicenter of the quake was about 45 kilometers south of the Uzbek city of Ferghana.
On July 7, an explosion at an arms depot rocked the town of Abadan, about 18 miles outside of the capital city of Ashgabat, knocking out power and sending many people fleeing the area as blasts continued to detonate from the munitions.
