During talks in Moscow today, Niyazov said Turkmenistan would cooperate with Russia in implementing "major energy projects," including joint gas deliveries and the development of gas fields.
Putin welcomed such proposals. "At the end of last year [we] signed an agreement on supplies of energy resources with Turkmenistan," he said. "I resolutely support your proposals to broaden our cooperation both in transport and production [of gas and oil]."
Russian state-run gas monopoly Gazprom announced on 29 December that it concluded a deal to buy gas from Turkmenistan at $65 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Turkmenistan is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the former Soviet Union, after Russia.
(Interfax, ITAR-TASS)