Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Trade turnover between Russia and Turkmenistan hit $5 billion in 2012, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has said at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat.

A Russian delegation headed by Minister Lavrov visited the Central Asian state on Thursday.

According to Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan and Russia have good relations, in particular in the trade and economic sector.

The Turkmen president added that there are good perspectives for cooperation in 2013, especially within the inter-governmental commission of economic cooperation.

The sides discussed the main issues of the Turkmen-Russian bilateral and multilateral partnership in international and regional organizations, in particular within the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In this regard, Lavrov said that Russia welcomes Turkmenistan's intention to deepen the relations with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Cooperation between Russia and Turkmenistan in the areas of economics and humanitarian aid was among the discussed issues.

Russian Ambassador to Turkmenistan Alexander Blokhin attended the meeting as well.

The Russian delegation also held a meeting with Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov at the Turkmen Foreign Ministry. Discussions covered further intensification of the Turkmen-Russian relations. In this regard, the emphasis was on further development of mutually beneficial cooperation and interaction in the political, trade and economic, and cultural and humanitarian fields.

The need for the development of ties between the foreign ministries was emphasized. At the end of the meeting, the sides signed a program of cooperation between the Turkmen and Russian foreign ministries for 2013.

Following the meeting with Berdymukhamedov, Lavrov said that Turkmenistan and Russia are interested in providing conditions for holding an early Caspian summit.

Some preparations for the event are underway, he added.

The Russian FM also noted 'the high level of attention paid by our Turkmen friends to the problem of ecology in the region".

"We fully support the approaches to address these issues jointly with the other littoral states," he said.

Lavrov said that Turkmenistan has put forward the idea of discussing climate change in a broader regional context, not only in relation to the Caspian, but Central Asia as well.

"We support this direction. We are confident that its assessment and specification will contribute to the common global efforts aimed at preventing the negative effects of climate change," Lavrov said.

The Caspian Sea is surrounded by five states - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran. Numerous rounds of talks have been held in past years to define the status of the salt-water lake.

The uncertain status of the basin causes a pollution increase. Oil production and refining have had an adverse impact on the environmental condition of the sea.

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed agreements on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea on November 29, 2001 and February 27, 2003. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sectors of the Caspian on May 14, 2003.