(ASHGABAT) - Turkmenistan has agreed to supply gas to the European Union, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said here Thursday at the end an EU-Central Asian summit.

"The president (Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan) decided to furnish Europe, and also France of course, in gas," Kouchner said after the meeting.

"This is a very good decision, according to our opinion, (and) it has been highly welcomed by the European Union."

He added that France, which assumes the rotating EU presidency in July, would make energy a priority of its tensure.

In an earlier statement, the EU said that "the Turkmen side confirmed its interest in enhanced collaboration with the European Union and its members according to a memorandum on energy cooperation."

Kouchner said working groups would next week begin drafting the accord.

The EU statement also stressed the importance of further discussions on "energy corridors" across the Caspian Sea.

The EU is anxious to see the construction of a pipeline through the Caspian, bypassing Russia, to provide direct access to Central Asian gas.

In an earlier message to the gathering, Berdymukhamedov said he was looking at new export routes for his country's vast natural gas reserves.

Existing pipelines are currently largely under Moscow's control, as almost all of them cross Russian territory.

"Turkmenistan is reflecting on ways of diversifying its energy exports," said the Turkmen leader. His country, with a population of just five million, has roughly the 10th largest gas reserves in the world.

Since taking over after the 2006 death of Saparmurat Niyazov, the Turkmen leader has made cautious efforts to build ties with outside powers.

Thursday's meeting was unusual for hosting representatives of the other Central Asian states, which Niyazov largely spurned.

In addition to Kouchner, Thursday's talks here attended by EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the foreign minister of Slovenia, the current EU president, as well those from of all five former Soviet Central Asian republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said "structured dialogue" had been established on the controversial subject of human rights in the region after calls from organisations such as Human Rights Watch for the subject to be raised here.

All five Central Asian states have come in for strong criticism on issues ranging from torture in Uzbekistan to lack of democracy in oil-rich Kazakhstan.

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