OREANDA-NEWS. March 18, 2011. The meetings with the delegation led by Ronald Keller, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Turkmenistan were at the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan.

The delegation, which had arrived in Turkmenistan, consisted of the officials of the Embassy of the Netherlands and top managers and specialists from 17 leading companies, which operated in the fuel and energy, chemical, construction, medical, agro-industrial, transport and communications, trade and other sectors of the economy. These included such companies as Royal Dutch Shell, MPS, Pielkendoor, SIMED, Royal Philips medical systems, Atradius, Berlanga, Van OORD and others.

The visit of such a high-level business delegation from one of the leading European countries to Ashgabat illustrated an increasing willingness of Western companies to expand and deepen mutually advantageous partnership with Turkmenistan in the whole spectrum of trade and economic relations.

This was evidenced by the talks between the representatives of the business community of the Netherlands and the Turkmen government officials in charge of the fuel and energy, construction, agro-industry, health, transport and communications, sport and tourism sectors. The foreign guests noted that at present many European countries, including the Netherlands, showed keen interest in the socio-economic reforms implemented in Turkmenistan under the leadership of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, which created the favourable investment climate and promoted full international cooperation with foreign companies.

It was emphasized that numerous ongoing investment projects in Turkmenistan aimed at modernisation and innovative renewal of all sectors of Turkmen economy opened up vast opportunities for the business circles of the Netherlands to expand on the promising ad dynamically developing Turkmen market.

The priority vectors of development of Turkmen-Dutch cooperation include the fuel and energy sector given abundant hydrocarbon reserves in Turkmenistan and the energy policy of the Turkmen state aimed at diversifying transit of hydrocarbon resources to world markets, incusing the European market. In this regard emphasis was put on the important initiatives put forward by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to build the international mechanisms fore reliable energy transit and development of new energy export routes.

In particular, the possibilities for cooperation in implementation of the projects for field development, oil and gas extraction, processing and transportation were a focus of the talks with the Vice Premier of Turkmenistan in charge of the fuel and energy sector. Turkmenistan was represented at the meeting by the heads of the Turkmennebit State Concern, the Turkmenhimiya State Concern and the Turkmennebitgazgurlusyk State Concern. The business circles of the Netherlands were represented by experts of such well-know companies as Royal Dutch Shell, Berlanga, Van OORD. The representatives of these companies stated that they stood ready to offer their expertise and technologies for hydrocarbon exploration, production, refining and transportation.

The delegation the Netherlands held a series of the meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, the Union of Manufacturers and Entrepreneurs and the Turkmenmallary Association. The talks focused on the opportunities and prospects for cooperation in implementation of concrete projects in different sectors of Turkmen economy.