Ready to talk: Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov
Ashgabat invites Russia for gas row chat
Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov today invited Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Turkmenistan for the first meeting since the start of a gas row which has halted Turkmen gas shipments to Russia.
Russia, the main buyer of Turkmen gas, halted its imports in April after a pipeline explosion.
The pipeline has been repaired but the two sides cannot agree on new terms of sales as Russia's Gazprom needs less gas than in the past.
Berdymukhamedov invited Medvedev to pay a visit in September in a telephone conversation earlier this week, during which they also discussed energy co-operation, Reuters quoted state media as reporting today.
State news agency Turkmen Khabarlary said Berdymukhamedov had also spoken to Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko by telephone and invited him to visit Turkmenistan in September.
Before the row, Russia used to resell some Turkmen gas to Ukraine.