Turkmenistan offers 1,000 megawatts

Turkmenistan has offered to export electricity to Pakistan in order to help the country deal with power shortage.

ISLAMABAD: Resource-rich Turkmenistan has offered to export 1,000 megawatts of electricity to Pakistan in order to help the country deal with the acute power shortage. Both countries have also decided to enhance relations in all economic and social spheres.

The offer was made during the last day of the Joint Ministerial Commission’s second meeting. Both states have agreed to establish a joint working group which will start deliberations on the export of electricity from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.

The Pakistani delegation was headed by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan, while the other side was led by Rashid Meredov, who is the vice premier and minister of foreign affairs of Turkmenistan.

Export of electricity would be subject to normalcy in Afghanistan. Unrest in Afghanistan is hampering attempts to expand trade links with landlocked Central Asia, home to five Islamic states that won independence from the former Soviet Union in 1992. During the discussions, delegates from both countries presented various proposals to enhance cooperation in the fields of trade, energy, agriculture, livestock, science and technology, education, health, sports and tourism. Joint working groups were also formed in some of these areas to enable identification of areas of mutual cooperation.

Even though more than 21 memorandums of understanding and agreements have already been signed between the two countries, bilateral trade has not picked up significantly.

The Joint Ministerial Commission also discussed the prospects of future cooperation for export of medicines and surgical equipment from Pakistan.

The Pakistani side proposed that shipments in bulk can be repacked in Turkmenistan according to the country’s own specifications.

Pakistan has handed over a draft memorandum on cooperation between Turkmenistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) for participation in trade fairs and exhibitions in both countries.

It was decided that academic links between renowned educational and research institutions of two countries will be established.

The parties also agreed to prepare a draft for a cultural exchange programme between the two countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2010.