U.S. Charge d’Affaires a.i. Ambassador Laura E. Kennedy: Well, thank you for coming. As you know, I’m Laura Kennedy and it’s my pleasure today to introduce our Deputy Secretary of State Daniel Rosenblum. Mr. Rosenblum has visited Turkmenistan a number of times before, as recently as last January for our bilateral consultations, but this is his first trip to Turkmenistan in his new capacity as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and I am thrilled that his first trip in this capacity is to Turkmenistan. So he had a wide-ranging program here, which he can of course discuss. I wanted to highlight a few things. He gave an excellent speech at the international conference hosted here and we have copies of it available for those of you who would like to read that speech from the conference on transport corridors. I was also very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce Mr. Rosenblum to President Berdimuhamedov as part of the conference. So, as I said he had a wide-ranging program here. We wish we could have him longer but we’re thrilled he was able to meet a number of people and organizations here, including a very wide-ranging meeting with the Foreign Minister. So with that I will turn the floor over to our distinguished guest.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Rosenblum: Thank you Ambassador Kennedy for your very kind words, and thanks to all of you for coming today. I look forward to your questions and I’ll just make a few brief comments to begin. First of all, as the Ambassador said, I’ve had a couple of days now of meetings here and it’s been very interesting for me. As she also mentioned, this is not my first visit, but I’m looking at things from a wider perspective than in my previous visits. Some of you may know that previously I focused, in my work at the State Department, on our foreign assistance programs throughout the region, and so in the past that was really my main interest. Now I’m looking more broadly at our relationship with Turkmenistan and at our policy interests. I was very glad to have a chance to attend the conference on transport corridors and to speak there. I focused, as you’ll see in the speech that’s being handed out, on the importance of economic connections between countries of the region as a source for stability and prosperity. I also mentioned at the conference the role that Turkmenistan has played in moving forward towards the goal of more connectivity, especially with respect to Afghanistan – connecting with electricity, railroads, and trade in general – and I mentioned that as a very positive contribution towards this goal of better connecting both north-south and east-west, as well.

Lastly, I’ll just mention some of the other meetings that I’ve had in the last couple of days here, so you get a picture of the things I was trying to learn about. I was able to meet with the OSCE Center here in Ashgabat to talk about their activities and programs, some of which the U.S. government is directly supporting. I also met with the United Nations Regional Center here in Ashgabat to talk about their activities, especially with respect to issues of water sharing in the region and their attempts to bring the countries of Central Asia together to find common ground on water questions. I also visited a shelter for victims of trafficking in persons that is run by an NGO here in Turkmenistan and supported by the International Organization for Migration and learned about their efforts to help people who have come back to Turkmenistan after having suffered from trafficking in persons violations. And lastly, I had several meetings with representatives of the government of Turkmenistan, including, as the Ambassador noted, Foreign Minister Meredov and also Deputy Chairman Artykov, with whom I spoke mostly about the electricity and railroad projects related to Afghanistan. So let me stop there and open the floor for any questions you may have.

Question: The question is whether the topic of Ukraine has been raised during your meetings with representatives of the Turkmenistan government and if there’s an intention to attract Turkmenistan to the number of countries who support the U.S. position, and whether the United States will correct or adapt its policy in Central Asia, taking into account the experience and the situation in Ukraine?

Deputy Assistant Secretary Rosenblum: Well thanks for that question, obviously a topic that’s on everyone’s mind nowadays. I can say that the topic of Ukraine and U.S. policy and Turkmenistan policy was not a feature in my discussions here in Ashgabat. Obviously it’s in the background, in a sense, but it’s not something I specifically talked about with the Foreign Minister or the Deputy Chairman, either. On the other part of your question about U.S. policy in Central Asia and whether it’s impacted in some way by events in Ukraine, I would just say that it reminds us – and it’s a theme that we always reiterate, that we always state when we deal with our partners in Central Asia – of the importance of the principles of independence and sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is what we believe the Ukraine crisis is largely about. So in the sense that it has reminded us of the importance of those principles, it has played a role in our relations in Central Asia.

Question: During your meetings with representatives of the Turkmen government, have you discussed the issues of media freedom and human rights?

Deputy Assistant Secretary Rosenblum: I did raise issues of human rights in my meetings with government officials, and specifically with the Foreign Minister, and I raised it in the context of the U.S. continued interest in helping Turkmenistan to meet its international obligations and its commitments as a member of the OSCE. I also raised it in the context, as I have before and as we have before as a government, to say that the potential of our bilateral relationship – it has much potential to expand, and some of the human rights concerns and issues that we raise on a regular basis prevent it from expanding more than it could. So it’s something that’s always part of our discussions. It doesn’t prevent us from developing our partnership and cooperation in other areas, in things having to do with business or having to do with security cooperation, but it’s an issue that we always raise because this is part of our policy.

Question: First question: the topic of Afghanistan has been discussed with Foreign Minister Meredov during the meetings? And the current situation at the border has been discussed? We know the Foreign Minister visited Afghanistan in May of this year in connection with several cases of breaches of the border and killings of Turkmen state border patrolmen. Was that part of the discussion during the meetings? And a second question in regards to the international conference on transport corridors. What are the transit capacities of Turkmenistan and how might they be used by the allied forces of the United States while forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan?

Deputy Assistant Secretary Rosenblum: OK, on the first question, the specific incidents you talked about, which we heard reports of too, were not mentioned and did not come up in my discussions with the Foreign Minister or the Deputy Chairman, Artykov, either. We did talk more broadly about the importance of border security and ways that the U.S. and international organizations could help Turkmenistan improve its border security, but not about these specific incidents. With respect to the capacities of Turkmenistan in transport and the connection of that with U.S. forces departing from Afghanistan, to be perfectly honest, I don’t think that we need to rely on Turkmenistan for any of that withdraw. There are many other routes out for our troops and our equipment, and I’m not aware of any plans to use those capacities – Turkmenistan’s capacities – for the drawdown from Afghanistan. I should add, though, that even though we won’t need to rely on Turkmenistan for that specific help, that we’ve always been grateful to the government of Turkmenistan for permitting us to bring in humanitarian aid through Turkmenistan. So that gratitude remains, even though we won’t need them for that, in particular.

Question: The question was raised of security in connection with the Afghanistan situation and I would love to try and deepen our knowledge that we are trying to gain here today. Let’s suppose that after the withdraw of forces from Afghanistan – and we already see the more active actions of Taliban there, who attack ethnic Turkmen trying to gain territories – say there is this situation on the border, there’s a third party or some military groups appear on the territory of Turkmenistan. How would the United States react to that situation, with the security of the pipelines and general security, if Turkmenistan applied not to NATO or to Russia, but to some third party to provide that security?

Deputy Assistant Secretary Rosenblum: So you’ve asked a hypothetical question with a hypothetical scenario, so I can’t respond to the hypotheticals and tell you what might or might not happen. What I can say is that we remain hopeful of concluding a bilateral security agreement with Afghanistan. Both of the presidential candidates, I think as you know, have agreed to sign that. So once the election results are resolved we hope that signing will occur, and on that basis that we’ll be able to keep a mission in Afghanistan focused on training and advising the Afghan security forces. I’ll also add that, as I mentioned in an earlier question about border security, that we will continue to look for ways to help Turkmenistan improve its border security, both directly and working in international organizations, through training and other kinds of help. So that remains an important part of our relationship here in Turkmenistan.

Question: My question is if you share the concerns of political analysts that there will be a worsening of the situation after the withdraw of forces from Afghanistan? As my colleague has mentioned, there are already more active actions on the Taliban’s part and they’re trying to reach Kandahar, which is a very strategic point which is only 200 kilometers away from Dushanbe. So we’d like to ask for your vision and what you think of those risks?

Deputy Assistant Secretary Rosenblum: I won’t attempt to be a political analyst or a political scientist and gauge risk, but I will say that we have, on an ongoing basis, been concerned about threats from terrorists and others in the region, and that’s why we’ve sought to build up our relationship with all the countries of the region – Afghanistan and the five Central Asian countries – in many dimensions, but especially including the dimension of improving border security, helping bolster counterterrorism capacities, and generally reducing those risks and finding ways to reduce them. So I guess I would say that I believe that there are risks in the region and we’re constantly finding ways to try to reduce them, but that can only be done in partnership with the countries in the region.

Question: Partially, my colleagues have asked this question but I would like to ask about the United States’ position on TAPI and how you see ensuring the security of the pipeline in Afghanistan after the withdraw of international military forces? And my second question is that, at this moment, there are bilateral negotiations in Geneva between Iran and United States, what do you think about those?

Deputy Assistant Secretary Rosenblum: Thank you for those two questions. First of all, the U.S. supports the TAPI project because we think it has the potential to be a transformative project for the entire region in terms of energy security for countries and commercial ties. We also believe that the project will only succeed if it’s done on a commercially viable basis. It has to be a commercial project that can be sustained economically over time, and so we hope to see more progress on that aspect in coming months. And so we’ve actually encouraged all the parties to the potential TAPI project to bring in an international energy company that can serve as the project leader, the project champion. That’s the way this has worked in the past on similar projects and we think that’s an essential element to make this work.

On your second question about the negotiations, we expect to hold another round of talks with the EU and the P5+1 in September, in advance of the UNGA ministerial meetings, the UN General Assembly. The location is still being determined. Last Friday the U.S. administration took additional steps in our efforts to maintain pressure on the government of Iran. Specifically, our Department of Treasury and Department of State imposed sanctions on several companies and individuals engaged in activities, such as assisting the nuclear program in Iran, support for terrorism, or supporting Iran’s evasion of international sanctions. These aren’t new sanctions, they’re designations of entities under existing sanctions, and I’d just remind everyone that we have made similar designations several times already under the Joint Plan of Action and the negotiations with all the parties have always continued forward, even after such designations.

Question: Do you know of any companies that might be potential leaders for TAPI?

Deputy Assistant Secretary Rosenblum: American companies that might be potential leaders? Well, the American company that’s been here the longest in Turkmenistan in the energy sector is Chevron, so they potentially could be, but I think there are others as well.