Turkmen president promotes energy security

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Turkmenistan's president is using the 64th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York to promote international security for global energy supplies.

Turkmenistan.ru reported Thursday that President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov urged the assembly to create a working group under U.N. auspices to draw up a legally binding document to guarantee the reliability and stability of energy supplies in the global market.

Berdymukhammedov met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who congratulated him on the success of a recent international conference on energy, which had been organized on Turkmenistan's initiative in December 2008. Berdymukhammedov commented, "Much work should be done to prepare a corresponding international convention."

Turkmenistan has been involved in a dispute with Russia over its natural gas supplies since April. When on April 9 Gazprom unilaterally diminished imports of Turkmen gas, an explosion occurred on the main Russian-Turkmen import pipeline and the flow has yet to be restored.

Further broadening Turkmenistan's export options, Berdymukhammedov also met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with energy security being the focus of their discussions.