Gas giant Turkmenistan scouts Latvia for EU trade

The president of gas-rich Turkmenistan on Tuesday said his ex-Soviet state was eying the ports of European Union member Latvia as part of a new export corridor for its huge natural energy resources. As he kicked off a two-day state visit to Latvia, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said he supported the development of an international transport corridor linking the Caspian and Baltic Seas via the Black Sea.
"It is possible we could use your ports," Berdymukhamedov told journalists and his Latvian counterpart Andris Berzins at a joint press conference. Turkmenistan claims to have the world's fifth-biggest supplies of natural gas - though British auditors Gaffney, Cline and Associates estimate the reserves could even be the globe's second-largest. China and the West are both courting the Central Asian state and it is starting to work with foreign firms.