Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Ashgabat hosted the sixth Turkmen-Russian economic forum on November 22, Turkmenistan State News Agency reported.

An important incentive for the current forum was the agreements reached during the talks between Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin who paid an official visit to Turkmenistan on October 2, 2017.

The delegation of Russia included representatives of a number of state institutions and companies specializing in the oil and gas sector, spheres of trade, food industry, construction, electronic and information technology, as well as machine building.

The Turkmen side at the forum was represented by heads of ministries and departments, the country’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, representatives of facilities and companies that manufacture export-oriented products.

At the time, the heads of state expressed their intention to promote the expansion of trade, economic and investment cooperation in order to further improve the welfare of the two friendly nations.

As the forum participants noted, the Turkmen-Russian partnership is of a strategic nature. This is confirmed by regular bilateral meetings and top-level talks, including in the framework of major international events.

Priority is paid to the implementation of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Russian Economic Cooperation Program for 2017-2019 and projects in the areas of trade, industry, energy and engineering, construction, agriculture and fisheries, transport and transport communications, sports, tourism and healthcare, the report said.

A bright indicator of effective cooperation in the sphere of economy is the presence of a number of leading Russian companies involved in implementing joint projects in the Turkmen market and their interest in further building up business contacts. So, today more than 180 facilities with the participation of Russian capital are registered in Turkmenistan.

A more detailed discussion of the opportunities for Russian companies to participate in the implementation of large-scale projects initiated by the President of Turkmenistan took place during bilateral meetings.

Russia occupies a leading position in the ranking of the largest foreign trade partners of Turkmenistan. In recent years, cooperation has intensified at the regional level, including Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, Sverdlovsk regions. The companies KAMAZ, Arety, and the airline Siberia are among traditional partners.

Gas supply was one of the strategic areas of partnership between Turkmenistan and Russia until recently. In 2015 bilateral trade volume between two countries decreased by 21 percent to $0.97 billion compared to $1.23 billion in 2014. Turkmen exports to Russia fell to $0.07 billion (by 20 percent) while imports fell to $0.90 billion (by 21 percent).

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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