Mosvow, Ashgabat mull bilateral cooperation
By Nigar Abbasova
Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the key topics of bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on important regional issues with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who paid a working visit to Russia, on November 1 in Moscow.
The Russian president noted that "despite the known economic difficulties", the trade turnover between the two countries is growing, mentioning that the imports from Turkmenistan doubled in 2015.
“But, of course, there is still work to do," the head of state added.
The Turkmen president, in turn, stated that the work of the intergovernmental commission is of great importance. "There is a lot of potential for both our countries. Remember our last meeting in Astrakhan at the Caspian summit - there was an idea to create an economic forum or a logistics center," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.
"You attach great importance to the development of transport and transit corridors," Berdimuhamedov told Putin, reminding that the Russian leader has supported these ideas.
Berdimuhamedov further invited the Russian president to participate in a global conference on transport, which will be held in Turkmenistan under the auspices of the UN on November 26-27.
In addition, he touched on cooperation between scientists of the two countries in the agricultural sector. "During the last five years, we have provided a good harvest for our country, our people, and even became the exporter," Berdimuhamedov said, further offering to hold the Science and Technology Forum in Ashgabat in 2017.
Highlighting the Turkmen President's role in the development of bilateral relations, Putin stressed that the relations between Moscow and Ashgabat will continue developing.
Turkmenistan and Russia have more than 100 agreements, covering all areas of cooperation. The main document between them is the agreement on friendship and cooperation dated April 23, 2002.
Russian companies operate in the Turkmen market in such areas as supply of machinery and equipment, telecommunications, oil and gas sector.
Russia holds leading positions among the biggest foreign trade partners of Turkmenistan. More than 190 companies with Russian capital implementing more than 240 investment projects have been registered in the Turkmen market.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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