Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Oct. 16 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Turkmen and Russian Presidents Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation at the initiative of the Russian side, the Turkmen government said on Tuesday.
The two sides exchanged views on urgent issues of bilateral cooperation and international policy of mutual interest.
'Stressing the importance of developing inter-state relations, both sides confirmed their mutual desire to further enhance cooperation on a wide range of areas, including mutually beneficial and constructive participation in CIS affairs given Turkmenistan's presidency in the organisation in bilateral and multilateral formats', the statement said.
The importance of regular business meetings was emphasised. The sides are to work out common approaches to create platforms for further effective partnership.
The presidents expressed confidence that the cooperation between the two countries will continue developing successfully based on historical traditions of friendship and mutual goodwill.
According to the Russian side, trade turnover between Russia and Turkmenistan is steadily growing. Taking into account gas supplies in 2011 it reached $ 4.3 billion. Russia ranks third in Turkmenistan's total turnover for the first three months in 2012. Turnover amounted to $1.235 billion.
Russia and Turkmenistan are the major exporters of natural gas in the CIS. The strategic direction in the relationship between the two countries is with cooperation in the field of fuel and energy. Turkmenistan's gas comes to Russia by the Middle Asia - Centre (CAC) pipeline through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Customer JSC Gazprom (Russia) signed an agreement with Turkmenistan on gas supplies for 25 years in 2003.
Russian companies Itera and Zarubezhneft work on one of the blocks in the Caspian Sea under the PSA agreement. Turkmenistan in recent years has stepped up direct cooperation with the regions of Russia such as St. Petersburg, Tatarstan and Astrakhan.
There are about 180 joint ventures in Turkmenistan.