On March 25, Turkmen President Gurbankuly Berdymuhammedov traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and discuss a series of issues. The two countries have generally good relations as Russia is Turkmenistan’s biggest trading partner. They discussed electricity, transportation, natural gas, agriculture, and communication systems.
The most important deal to come out of the meetings was an agreement to begin building the Caspian Gas Pipeline and also to build a pipeline connecting it to the gas fields in northeastern Turkmenistan. The Caspian line is a rival to the EU/US sponspered Trans Caspian Gas line, which would cross from Turkmenbashi to Baku and connect to Nabucco. That line has not been built and no one is sure if Turkmenistan has enough gas for both.
So, according to RIA-Novosti via Ferghana.ru, Fuel and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko will visit Ashkhabad soon in order to complete the various agreements. While anything is possible, this article from May 2007 also reported that agreements to build the lines were signed and the lines would be running by 2009-10. That hasn’t happened, clearly.
