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the world who are coming to us. In the beginning the come
as Observers, then as Members under the Charter Treaty,
because they see it as a part of a solution. It is seen as an in-
strument to improve investment climate, to provide secu-
rity to the investors, to have better conditions for building
trust. As we heard earlier today, if you do not have trust,
you do not have anything. So the Energy Charter Process
allows the country to build trust.
Now we are in a second phase of modernisation, so now
we are addressing the procedures and aspects of chair-
manship.
As of 1 January 2017 Turkmenistan assumes the Chair-
manship of the Energy Charter Conference. At its 27th
session held in Tokyo, the Conference appointed Mr
Yagshygeldy Kakaev (Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet
of Ministers of Turkmenistan) as the Chair of the Con-
ference and the Vice-chairs - Mr Dovranmammed Red-
jepov, (Minister of Energy of Turkmenistan), Mr Mih-
nea Constantinescu, (Ambassador at Large for Energy
Security, Romania) and Mr Kazuo Kodama, (Ambas-
sador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the
European Union).
So it's becoming a truly and genuine international process.
At the same time, we have ambitions to expand our pro-
grammes. You have perhaps talked to the Minister of Ugan-
da, who is one of the countries preparing for accession to the
International Charter Treaty. There are other countries in the tors and their investments from political risks involved in
same case - Asia, Latin America. ..We are working with all of
investing into a foreign country such as discrimination, e
them to spread the European values as the Energy Charter xpropriation, nationalisation, breach of contract, damages
is referring to the basis of European values such as energy due to war, etc. The legally binding nature of the Energy
trade should be non-discriminatory, it should be liberal as
Charter Treaty make it the only of its kind in the world, set-
much as possible, and should provide the benefits for all the ting up the only multilateral framework for matters related
participants of the energy regulations.
with Energy. If you go to UNCTAD's webpage, you will see
that the Energy Charter Treaty is the most used instrument
So the two days discussions here in Ashgabat are focus-
for investment dispute settlements, globally.
ing on the transit. We are trying to improve the transit
provision of the Charter, and get more commitment to 31(
Q: How is your relationship with the other international
party partners and to incorporate the experience of our
organisations?
partners for more than 20 years. Developing this frame-
We are cooperating. We are complementing each other.
work we believe that we are serving our members.
We believe that they are very important part of the global
Since you are based in Geneva, it's worth mentioning that
energy orders. In our understanding, when somebody re-
in Energy Charter Treaty, "trade" refers to the WTO rules.
fers to the government, he/she refers to certain rules. It is
It was signed before the creation of WTO. It is an instru-
only organisations with legal binding rules, in the energy
ment which allows the application the WTC rules to non-
cooperation, and we are part of this. Our membership is
members of the WTO. Turkmenistan for instance is not a
not universal yet. We have 54signatures of the Treaty, who
member of WTO, but to the Energy Charter Treaty, and
represent our core constituency. More than 80 countries
therefore has to apply WTO rules through Energy Charter.
are involved in the whole process, both members and
The same applies to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as well as
non-members, and this number is growing.
other countries. When the Treaty was signed in 1994, many
countries have not yet become members of the WTO. So in
Q: Finally, Mr Secretary-General, do you have a mes-
trade we follow the mainstream of global trade rules.
sage for our readers?
In investment we are the only multilateral organisation
To those countries that are not yet members, we are non-
who have a protection and investment agreement. There
inclusive, and would be happy to get the message across, so
are no other sector. The treaty is responsible for protection
we are always happy to give them information, raise aware-
of direct foreign investments. Its provisions protect inves-
ness and to welcome them in the Energy Charter Family.
INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT - DIVA 19