Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

China became Turkmenistan's first partner for the volume of trade turnover and Turkmenistan, for its part, became one of the main partners of China, Chinese Ambassador to Turkmenistan Xiao Qinghua said in an interview to local Turkmen media on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's official visit to Ashgabat scheduled for September 3-4.

"Gas from Turkmenistan is delivered to many Chinese provinces and autonomous regions, reaching the shores of the Pacific Ocean and benefits the billion population of Chinese," the ambassador said.

According to him, the largest gas pipeline in the world - Turkmenistan-China was put into operation in December 2009 and became the new Silk Road, strengthening friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

The diplomat also noted that the trade turnover between China and Turkmenistan amounted to $4.5 million in 1992 and this figure exceeded $10 billion last year, which is by 2,000 times more compared to the moment of establishment of diplomatic relations and is by 100 times more than 10 years ago.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. The Turkmen-Chinese interactions are regulated by legal basis including over 135 documents signed at interstate, intergovernmental and interagency levels.

The joint declaration on comprehensive strengthening the Turkmen-Chinese friendship and cooperation relations signed in November 2011 is particularly significant.

China is Turkmenistan's long-term partner in the oil and gas sector and is the largest creditor in the country's fuel and energy industry as well.

At present, China holds first place in the total foreign trade turnover of Turkmenistan.

China is also well represented in the Turkmen market in transport and telecommunications. Bilateral cooperation in the spheres of energy, transport, communication and textile industry has been developed.

Currently around 22 Chinese enterprises operate in Turkmenistan.