Tehran, Ashgabat to double trade volume
By Sara Rajabova
Energy-rich countries, Iran and Turkmenistan are planning to double their trade turnover, said Ebrahim Rahimpour, Iran’s Special Envoy in Caspian Sea Affairs.
Rahimpour, who is on an official visit to Turkmenistan leading a high-ranking delegation added that Tehran and Ashgabat will soon launch a joint cooperation committee to boost mutual economic relations, Fars news agency reported.
“The two countries are willing to double their current volume of trade, which stands at $3 billion, this year,” he said.
Rahimpour added that trade in gas was the most prominent economic topic discussed in the meetings.
Iran and Turkmenistan sit on the world’s biggest natural gas reserves. While Iran holds second place with 33,6 trillion cubic meters natural gas reserves, Turkmenistan is in the fourth place with 17,5 trillion cubic meters.
Iran gets Turkmen gas via several branches. The Korpeje - Kurt-Kui gas pipeline, commissioned in December 1995, is the main one. Its capacity was brought to eight billion cubic meters per year with the potential of increasing the capacity to 14 billion cubic meters. The Iranian National Gas Export Company acts as a gas buyer.
Based on a signed contract between the two countries, Turkmenistan is obliged to export 40 million cubic meters of gas per day to Iran to feed the country’s northern power plants.
But Iran said on January 26 that it was receiving less than the agreed amount, about 28-29 million cubic meters per day.
Earlier, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran's Oil Minister said Iran does not need to import gas from Turkmenistan, but imports because the country seeks to expand political and economic relations with Ashgabat.
Rahimpour further said, major Iranian companies are making their way to Turkmenistan in order to take over some projects which will also boost mutual relations.
He then commented on the achievements gained during the last summit of Caspian Sea littoral countries’ leaders held last September in Astrakhan, Russia and maintained that Iran and Turkmenistan have expressed happiness with the outcome of the meeting and plan to conduct close cooperation in the next year’s summit.
Rahimpour also said in the few months to come, the two countries will have special joint programs including an expert-level exhibition in Iran, a joint conference on cooperation between Iran and Turkmenistan, and a meeting of the Joint Committee of Consular Cooperation.
Iran and Turkmenistan are neighbors and enjoy strong and diverse trade. Much of Iran’s exports to Turkmenistan consist of foodstuffs, healthcare equipment, automobiles, and advanced technological goods.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova
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