Ashgabat and Tokyo sign documents on fuel and energy cooperation - Turkmen Foreign Ministry

ASHGABAT. Jan 23 (Interfax) - A number of documents on cooperation in the fuel and energy sector were signed following Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov's meeting with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ken Saito in Tokyo on Monday, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said on its website on Tuesday.

They include a memorandum of cooperation in energy transition, a memorandum of understanding to design and fully construct the second facility on the premises of a gasoline production factory in the Akhal region and a memorandum of understanding on the provision of technical services and maintenance to the Marykarbamid factory to take it up to its design capacity.

Turkmen news agency Orient said that a memorandum was signed by the Turkmenkhimia state corporation, Japanese Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Itochu Corporation to build a natural gas gasoline plant and fertilizer plants.

The parties reiterated their commitment to boosting trade and economic ties between Turkmenistan and Japan, the Foreign Ministry said. They also noted the successful implementation of various projects, including the construction of chemical enterprises, gas turbine power plants and supplies of hardware and vehicles. Turkmenistan and Japan also announced their readiness to seek out new cooperation opportunities, especially in the field of energy transition, including the production and transportation of hydrogen.

Special attention was given to the next Ministerial Dialogue on the energy economy as part of the Central Asia + Japan Dialogue, the drafting of a decarbonization roadmap, the Joint Crediting Mechanism, the introduction of an e-commerce system to improve trade relations, and joint work on technologies for the development and transportation of hydrogen, the ministry said.

The parties also discussed specific proposals for some promising projects, including Japanese companies' possible participation exporting high value-added products, diversifying projects' financing, researching green and hydrogen energy experience, creating modern high technology production facilities, and involving the two countries' small and medium-sized companies and enterprises in implementing joint projects.