A meeting of the intergovernmental Turkmen-Russian commission on economic cooperation will be held in Moscow in December this year. This was announced at the meeting of the Minister of External Relations of the Astrakhan region Vladimir Golovkov with the Consul of Turkmenistan in Astrakhan Nury Golliyev.
According to Golovkov, representatives of the Astrakhan region are ready to discuss at the session together with representatives from Turkmenistan the possibility of signing documents that would contribute to the development of bilateral trade and economic relations.
During the meeting the sides explored the prospects of creating a logistics center of Turkmenistan, opening shipping lines between the ports of Olya and Turkmenbashi, increasing trade and cooperation in the field of shipbuilding.
Work on the implementation of joint projects is carried out within the framework of the Agreement between the Government of the Astrakhan region and the Government of Turkmenistan on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation of 2008.
This year, on the sidelines of the first official visit of the President Serdar Berdimuhamedov to Russia, an agreement on cooperation between the Government of the Astrakhan region and the Governorate of the Balkan province and an agreement on the establishment of twinning relations between the cities of Astrakhan and Turkmenbashi was signed.
According to Golovkov, the opening of the logistics center of Turkmenistan in the Astrakhan port special economic zone will contribute to the increase in mutual trade turnover.
Issues of establishing regular shipping services between the ports of Olya and Turkmenbashi, cooperation in the field of shipbuilding, including, training and retraining of staff for shipbuilding enterprises, are being actively worked out.
The parties also discussed the prospects of launching air links between Astrakhan and Turkmenbashi, the implementation of joint projects in the fields of education, culture, tourism.
“At the first Central Asia–Russia summit recently held in Astana, the President of our country Serdar Berdimuhamedov, noted that Turkmenistan attaches great importance to the development of cooperation with the Astrakhan region,” Nury Golliyev said.
The Consul recalled that the Turkmen leader considers it necessary to focus efforts on boosting the North–South transport corridor and said that Turkmenistan, as a country that provides the shortest route to the Persian Gulf, to the ports of Iran and onward to India, is ready to start implementing this project. ///nCa, 26 October 2022