Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, July 26 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Several important documents are planned to be signed during the Tajik president's forthcoming official visit to Turkmenistan. These will expand cooperation between the two countries in various fields, the Tajik president said today.
According to the information, Emomali Rahmon received the Turkmen Minister of Finance Dovlegeldi Sadykov and co-chairman of the intergovernmental trade, economic, scientific and technical committee of the two countries in Dushanbe.
Confidence was expressed at the meeting that the work of the joint commission and the forthcoming official visit of the Tajik president to Turkmenistan will give a strong impetus to this process, the information said.
Both sides discussed the issues of cooperation and strengthening the intergovernmental commission's activity. The volume of mutual trade turnover in 2011 amounted to only $194 million.
Issues of regional cooperation and promoting economic restoration and peace in neighbouring Afghanistan were also discussed.
Ashgabat and Dushanbe consider such sectors as energy, agriculture and transport and the communication sector taking into account geographic location and transit potential of both countries, as the priorities for trade and economic cooperation.
Tajikistan is experiencing a shortage of energy resources. Turkmenistan is the largest energy supplier in Central Asia. The existing transport infrastructure allows Ashgabat to export electricity to Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia.
Following the recent cessation of gas supplies from Uzbekistan, Dushanbe expects to obtain Turkmen energy resources, including fuel.
It was previously reported that Tajikistan wants to increase oil supplies to the country from Turkmenistan. Until now, the country depends on the imports from Russia which has increased its export duty several times. This led to a jump in prices in the domestic food market by spurring inflation.