Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Iranian Commission on consular, border and customs issues was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on February 19.

Hassan Gashgavi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular and Parliamentary Affairs represented Iran at the meeting.

During the meeting the sides discussed issues relating to implementation of the agreements reached by the commission at its previous meeting in Tehran on January 13-14 ,2014.

The sides also discussed issues on cooperation in improving the legal aspects of consular issues, cooperation in border management and establishing effective customs services.

Moreover, the two countries touched upon newly commissioned Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan railway.

During the long-term cooperation between Iran and Turkmenistan many joint projects were implemented. Iran imports Turkmen electricity.

The two sides have built a dam border "Dostluk" (Friendship) and implemented "North-South" railway project, carried out on the basis of the signed tripartite agreement with Turkmenistan, Iran and Kazakhstan in 2007.

The route inaugurated in 2014 has opened up a direct rail connection the three countries to the east of the Caspian Sea.

The new line is expected to carry transit traffic between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. Meanwhile, oil and agricultural products and large quantities of Kazakh grain are exported to Iran each year.

It is expected that the line will boost rail traffic between the three countries from 3 million tonnes a year to 10 million, with the figure expected to reach 20 million tonnes by 2020.

Iran and Turkmenistan share a common border of more than 1000 km. The two countries have good relations since Turkmenistan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Iran was the first nation to recognize Turkmenistan as an independent nation. Since then, the two countries have enjoyed good relations and have cooperated in economic, transportation, infrastructure development, and energy sectors.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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