Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov received yesterday the crown prince and deputy ruler of Ra's al-Khaymah, Saud bin Saqr al-Kasimi, who arrived in Turkmenistan at the head of a high power delegation of the United Arab Emirates.

As the Ashgabat correspondent of Turkmenistan.ru reports, the delegation was comprised of representatives from leading UAE oil and bank structures, including chairman of financial control of Ras Al-Khaima, Faisal bin Sakr Al-Kasimi, chairman of the council of oil control of Ras Al-Khaima, acting chairman of Al-Mashriq Bank, Abul Aziz Al-Gharir, executive chairman of the office of finance and development of Ras Al-Khaima, Izzat Al-Jani and chairman of the board of directors of Dragon Oil, Hussein Sultan.

During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on the current state and prospects for bilateral partnership. The crown prince said his visit to Ashgabat comes out of the Arab side's sincere desire to develop multilateral relations with Turkmenistan, particularly in the fuel-energy sector which is a flagship of both states' economies. Saparmurat Niyazov instructed the heads of the oil and gas sector who attended the meeting to brief the guests on the programme of development and modernization of the sector and define aspects of future partnership.

The Turkmen president acquainted the members of the UAE delegation with the oil and gas transportation infrastructure, both existing and future routes of transportation of Turkmen energy carriers to the world markets, namely, the proposed route for transportation of Turkmen natural gas from the right bank of Amudarya river to China.

Joint exploration of the oil fields on the Caspian shelf was proposed among other areas for cooperation. The sides noted the successful work of Dragon oil company. The issue of modernization and upgrading of the Seyidi oil refinery and construction of a plant for polyethylene production next to the refinery that would use natural gas from the large field situated nearby as raw material was also discussed.

Among other potential areas for cooperation suggested by crown prince Saud bin Saqr al-Kasimi was the offer for joint development of the rich oil deposit Yashlar.

Having expressed sincere gratitude to the head of Turkmenistan for hospitality and opportunity to meet him in person, the high guest conveyed his country president's invitation for Saparmurat Niyazov to visit the UAE at any convenient time. The Turkmen leader thanked for the invitation and asked the guest to convey his most cordial greetings to the President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zaid Al Nahayan.

The UAE Ambassador to Turkmenistan Hassan Abdullah Al-Adhab attended the meeting.