Poland Asks Turkmenistan to Open a Consulate in Warsaw

Poland has asked Turkmenistan to consider opening a consulate in Warsaw. The country's minister of external affairs, Rashid Meredov, announced this at a government meeting on July 5. Turkmenistan will send an official delegation to Poland in the fourth quarter of 2024 to study the possibility of opening a consulate. Turkmenistan and Poland have also formed a working group on economic cooperation and plan to organize an exhibition of the Museum of Turkmenistan's exhibits in Poland in 2025. The number of Turkmen immigrants in Poland has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2022, Turkey, the most popular destination for Turkmen labor migration, introduced a visa regime at the request of the Turkmen side. The report stated: “The decline of the Turkish economy and the devaluation of the lira also played an important role. Migrants began to look for other options, including Poland. The request to open a consulate is probably related to this, but Rashid Meredov did not mention it in his report. The government of Turkmenistan wants to curb labor migration with bureaucratic obstacles.” Meredov also announced the expansion of cooperation with other Eastern European countries that are members of the European Union: Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovakia.

Poland and Russia Ensure Continued Transit of Kazakh Oil to Germany

Pipeline operators PERN (Poland) and Transneft (Russia) have agreed to ensure the continued transit of Kazakh oil to Germany,  reported Reuters. The Druzhba pipeline runs through Russia to the Belarusian city of Mozyr, after which it splits northwards in the direction of Poland and Germany, and southwards, to Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Croatia. The northern pipeline has the capacity to  carry  two million barrels of oil per day from Kazakhstan into Poland. Back in  April, Transneft warned Kazakhstan that the transit of its oil to Germany could cease as a result of the situation concerning the certification of oil flow meters in Poland. The devices must be periodically certified for compliance with Russian standards and the verification of oil flow meters on the Polish section of the Druzhba pipeline must be completed by June 5. To  address the issue , the  Polish pipeline operator PERN, Russian state-owned Transneft, and German refiner PCK Schwedt, which receives supplies from Kazakhstan, have agreed that the German company will maintain oil flow meters on the Polish section of the Druzhba pipeline. The work required to maintain metering on the Polish section and in turn, remove the risks imposed by  PERN's sanctions,  are to be undertaken by an unnamed Slovak company.