Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.20
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran and Turkmenistan will hold their 13th joint economic committee meeting in Turkmenistan's city of Ashgabat today, ISNA reported.
Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will chair the meeting jointly with his Turkmen counterpart.
A conference will be held with the participation of 80 businessmen from Iranian and Turkmen private and public sectors.
The managing director of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI), Valiollah Afkhami, has said necessary infrastructures for boosting trade ties with Turkmenistan should be provided, IRIB reported on Nov. 18.
There are some bottlenecks in Iran-Turkmenistan trade, Afkhami said, adding that Turkmenistan has notable potential to increase the volume of trade.
Iran mainly exports cement, potatoes, apples, types of flour, and pipe fittings to Turkmenistan.
In July 2013, the IRNA news agency reported that Iranian and Turkmen merchants plan to boost trade turnover by 100 percent reaching $10 billion.
The Iran-Turkmenistan trade turnover reached some $5billion in the last solar year (end on March 21).
According to Iran Custom Administration report, Turkmenistan exported some $244 million worth of gas during the first three month of the current solar year. The value of imports was some $15 million in the same period.
Iran imported 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas worth $3.5 billion from Turkmenistan in the last solar year.
This indicates a 50 per cent decrease compared to the previous solar year.
Iran is Turkmenistan's second largest trade partner after Russia, the report said.
Iran's highest foreign trade balance was with Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Egypt during the first quarter of the current solar year.