In connection with the posted content on the official website of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), the following is noted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.
Company’s message has tendentious and biased nature, is considered by us as an attempt to mislead all of us, regarding to the debt repayment obligations of the Company to the Turkmen side.
In particular, the statements about the alleged violations of the contract from State Concern «Turkmengaz», related to the quality and volume of the supplied gas simply are not true.
In fact, during the realization of the Contract for the supply of Turkmen gas to Iran, were observed numerous violations of taken by the NIGC commitments. Despite the fact that the principle «take or pay» is one of the main conditions of the Contract, the National Iranian Gas Company do not provide samples of the contracted gas for a number of years in large volumes. At the same time, the Company did not provide the Turkmen side any financial compensation.
One sided NIGC statements on conducted «many hours ineffective negotiations are also unsubstantiated and emotional.
In this regard it should be emphasized that on the initiative of the Turkmen side regularly were held meetings, consultations and negotiations with representatives of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran and NIGC. In this process, the Turkmen side has repeatedly come out with concrete proposals, aimed not only at addressing emerging issues related to gas deliveries under long-term Contract, but also for the expansion of the Turkmen-Iranian cooperation in the gas sector. Due to this constructive approach of the Turkmen side was possible to achieve results on current subjects of the gas partnership between Turkmenistan and Iran.
An example of media passage is the comment of the company that «the intervention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan in the legal dispute between the two companies is a violation of the Contract».
In this case, no violation can not be by definition, because such issues are not prescribed in the commercial agreements or treaties. At the same time it is well known that one of the main tasks of the Foreign Ministry of any state is to protect the interests of the country (including economic) rights of its citizens and legal entities. From this standpoint, it should be understood the activity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan in light of the above issues.
Source : Press-service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan