Turkmen, Uzbek presidents mull prospects of economic co-op

By  Trend

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev in a phone conversation noted solid potential for building up interaction in the economy, the Turkmen government said in a message.

The sides stressed that the two neighboring countries reached a qualitatively new level of relations.

“This is evidenced by the important agreements aimed at achieving concrete results, as well as the bilateral Strategic Partnership Agreement, signed last year in Ashgabat,” the message said.

At the same time, the parties noted solid potential for increasing interaction in such sectors of the economy as transportation and communications, as well as agriculture.

Berdimuhamedov noted that the Uzbek agricultural equipment demonstrated good performance in the soil and climatic conditions of Turkmenistan, and the country intends to continue purchasing the equipment, the Turkmenistan State News Agency reported.

The parties also exchanged views on topical issues of the regional and global agenda.

Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which have impressive reserves of hydrocarbon resources, favor diversification of energy flows.

The implementation of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China Gas Pipeline project, which was put into operation in 2009, is a good example of this.

Recently, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invited businessmen of Uzbekistan to participate in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. Construction of the Turkmen section of the pipeline started in December 2015.

Uzbekistan was also invited to start developing oil and gas fields on the Turkmen shelf of the Caspian Sea.

Ashgabat is ready to intensify cooperation in a project on supply of electricity from Central to South Asia through the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan route.

At this stage, the two countries are also discussing a project to establish the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman transport route. It will significantly increase international transit traffic and provide a new corridor to world markets.