Turkmenistan News Brief
June 19-25, 2009
Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov made a low-key trip to Washington, DC this week, shrouded in secrecy. Apparently the Turkmen official met only with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, special U.S. envoy for Eurasian energy Ambassador Richard Morningstar, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asia George Krol, and several other officials from the State Department.

Turkmenistan News Brief
June 12-19, 2009
Turkmenistan unveiled its much ballyhooed Avaza resort area this week, an over-the-top tourist zone fueled by tax breaks and foreign investors eager to catch President Berdymukhamedov’s eye by building luxury hotels in outlandish shapes to position themselves as players in the scramble for Turkmenistan’s vast hydrocarbon resources.

Turkmenistan News Brief
June 5-11, 2009
Turkmenistan successfully initiated a number of bold ventures this week to help position Ashgabat both to drive a hard bargain with its main trading partner, the Russian monopolist Gazprom, and to help eventually diversify its routes to export energy.

Turkmenistan News Brief
May 29 - June 4, 2009
With the dispute still unresolved over compensation for the April 9 gas pipeline explosion, Russia’s Gazprom upped the ante with Turkmenistan this week when Valery Golubev, deputy chairman of Gazprom said, "either review the price or the volume." If Ashgabat will not cooperate by accepting a lower price for its gas than hoped, Gazprom will reduce imports from Turkmenistan by 80 percent, he added.