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Turkmenistan, Afghanistan agree to develop transport, energy co-op

22 January 2015 16:08 (UTC+04:00)
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan agree to develop transport, energy co-op

By Aynur Karimova

Turkmenistan and Afghanistan have agreed to develop cooperation in the energy and transport sectors.

The agreement was reached on January 21 at a meeting between Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani, who is on a state visit to Ashgabat.

During the negotiations, Berdymukhamedov said the trade turnover between the two countries exceeded $1 billion in 2014, and all conditions are prepared to double this figure in 2015.

Turkmenistan sells petroleum products to Afghanistan through the terminals on Turkmen-Afghan border and carries out the preferential supply of electricity to the northern provinces of the country.

Berdymukhamedov also noted currently the construction of another terminal for shipment of petroleum products and a new gas-turbine power station is underway in Turkmenistan. This will allow significantly increasing the volume of energy resources supply to Afghanistan.

The sides also emphasized the significance of transport projects in the development of bilateral economic cooperation. They discussed the issues related to the construction of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway and Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia transport and transit corridor.

Ghani, for his part, said he supports all the energy, transit and transport projects between the two countries. He noted Afghanistan is ready to ensure the transit of Turkmen natural gas and electricity to China and other countries through its territory.

Following the negotiations, the two presidents signed a joint statement, and a memorandum of understanding on the further cooperation in electricity sphere, as well as a cooperation program between the foreign ministries of the two countries for 2016-2017.

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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