TURKMEN-TURKISH AGREEMENT ON ELECTRICITY TRADE SIGNED.

Yesterday in Ankara, Turkmenistan and Turkey signed an agreement–the first of its kind–on electrical power supplies. Turkmenistan is to deliver 750 million kilowatt/hours of electricity to Turkey annually from 2000 through 2006. The gas-generated Turkmen electricity will help meet the needs of eastern and southeastern Anatolia, those Turkish regions chronically short of electrical power. Turkey’s Electric Power Company TEAS has been designated to handle the purchase and distribution of Turkmen electricity. Turkey is about to announce an international tender for construction of the transmission line from Turkmenistan to Turkey via Iran, to be completed within one year (Dow Jones Newswires, May 12). The power transmission line would add to the planned trans-Caspian gas pipeline in terms of creating an energy transit corridor from Turkmenistan to Turkey. The latter country is already a leading investor in Turkmenistan’s light industry and construction sectors.

ISLAMIC AND OTHER OPPOSITIONISTS IN UZBEKISTAN FACE HARSHER CRIMINAL PENALTIES.