Iran, Turkmenistan agree to barter gas for goods, services

/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Karimova

Tehran and Ashgabat have agreed to barter part of the gas supplied from Turkmenistan for goods and services from Iran, allowing the Iranian private sector to step up its operations in Turkmenistan.

This was announced by Iran's Deputy Petroleum Minister for International Affairs Amir-Hossein Zamaniniya on July 27.

Zamaniniya said that this decision was taken as a result of the bilateral negotiations held between Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh and Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov.

"Turkmenistan is a reliable trade partner of Iran and there is good reason to hope that it will remain so in the future," he noted. "Iran is ready to export products and engineering services to Turkmenistan and sign a contract worth about $1 billion with this country."

Zamaniniya also said that during the meeting, the Iranian and Turkmen ministers again stressed the need to strengthen bilateral trade and economic relations and discussed the issue of debt repayment.

"Iranian companies should make efforts to offer Turkmenistan quality products capable of competing with the goods of such countries as Turkey and Russia, which dominate in the Turkmen market, and thus, to play a more important role in this market," he said. "Currently, Iranian petrochemical products differ for higher quality compared to competitors' products. Due to this, it is necessary for Iranian companies to use their full potential in this field."

Tehran hosted a business forum titled "Trade with Turkmenistan" on July 26 aimed at analyzing trade with Turkmenistan in recent years and finding ways to create conditions for mutually beneficial cooperation in the fields of oil and gas, energy, construction industry and hydropower.

The second Iranian specialized exhibition dedicated to the oil and gas and petrochemical industries, the hydropower and construction industries, and engineering and technical services named 'the Iranian project' will be held in Ashgabat on August 19-21.

Turkmenistan is the largest supplier of natural gas to Iran. The most convenient transportation route for Turkmen resources to the energy markets of the region passes through Iran.

Turkmenistan was the seventh leading importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2015, according to the Iran Customs Administration.

Iran exported $973.65 million of non-oil goods to Turkmenistan and imported $113.72 million of non-oil goods from the country.

In March, the two countries signed 17 cooperation documents in economic, cultural, political, legal, scientific, and technological fields. The two sides are determined to boost their bilateral trade to $60 billion by the next 10 years.