Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Sept. 27 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Uzbek Ambassador to Turkmenistan Jawhar Izamov has conveyed the Uzbek President's Islam Karimov's best wishes to the Turkmen counterpart and relayed his intention to visit Turkmenistan soon, the Turkmen government said today.
President Berdimuhamedov has officially invited President Karimov to visit the country in July. He added that the Turkmen-Uzbek dialogue has obtained powerful dynamics of development due to the recent mutual good will. This allowed raising it to a new level.
It was stressed that the similarity or identity of the parties' views on a number of issues of international policy, a constructive political dialogue and mutual support in the international arena contribute to the strengthening of bilateral relations.
The two countries have been connected with a number of large projects. In particular, a gas pipeline was opened from Turkmenistan to China via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in December 2009. The sides consider the opportunities of cooperation in implementing the railway project that would connect the Central Asia with the Persian Gulf countries.
Ashgabat and Tashkent are examining the ways of increasing mutual investments, implementing mutually beneficial projects in various sectors and diversifying joint activity.
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan can bring bilateral trade turnover to $1 billion for the next two years. This forecast was made during the eighth session of the Uzbek-Turkmen Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation held in Tashkent in early September.
The trade relations are governed by an intergovernmental agreement on the main directions of the long term trade and economic cooperation signed in January 1996.
According to the Uzbek State Statistics Committee, bilateral trade in 2011 increased by 1.7 times and amounted to $454.3 million (including exports - $168.6 million, import - $285.7 million).
There are seven joint ventures with the Turkmen capital in Uzbekistan, six of the companies created with the participation of Uzbek investors in Turkmenistan.