Macron Holds Rare Elysee Meeting with Turkmenistan's Leader to Discuss Gas Reserves

Known in Turkmenistan as "Arkadag" ("protector") and president since 2006, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov remains the number one in the ex-Soviet Caspian nation despite handing over the presidency to his son Serdar in 2022.

The trip to Paris is a highly unusual visit abroad by Berdymukhamedov, who is the subject of a cult of personality at home and has penned numerous books including, most recently, one honouring his own achievements, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.

New York-based Human Rights Watch says in its 2024 World Report that Turkmenistan "made no improvements to its dire human rights record...authorities continue to suppress fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedoms of religion, movement, expression, and association. Recent political reforms have only deepened authoritarian rule."

The French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkmenistan as the third least press-friendly country in the world, just ahead of North Korea and Eritrea.

Gas reserves

France and the EU are eyeing gas reserves in the region as Europe moves to end its reliance on Russian gas in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Turkmenistan, meanwhile, is seeking to shift more of its exports westwards and reduce its dependence on China as its main export partner.

The landlocked state has the fourth-largest gas reserves in the world but is vulnerable to fluctuations in Beijing's economy.

How to deliver any gas to Europe from Turkmenistan, which has borders with Iran and Afghanistan, remains a logistical issue.

'Open a new page'

The official Turkmenistans TDH News Agency reported that "our heroic friend" Berdymukhamedov had a "conversation with the representative of France," hoping that his visit will "give a powerful impetus to the development of bilateral cooperation" and "open a new page in the history of relations" between Ashgabat and Paris.

Several agreements were signed at the Elysee but they did not mention cooperation on energy.

France's Thales Alenia Space Group signed a framework agreement for the supply of a second telecommunications satellite to the former Soviet republic.

The two governments also agreed to cooperate in the field of sustainable urban development while concluding a roadmap for educational and academic cooperation and the extension of a joint archaeological mission in Turkmenistan.

Berdymukhamedov, who emphasises neutrality as the cornerstone of Turkmenistan's foreign policy, last visited France in 2010, when Nicolas Sarkozy was president. He also met with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin in 2016.