Turkmenistan, Ashgabad, April 26/Trend, H. Hasanov
The upcoming visit of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to Uzbekistan scheduled for this May will "open the new page in the history of interstate dialogue", newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper quoted Uzbek Foreign Minister Eler Ganiyev as reporting this at a meeting with the head of Turkmenistan.
"They in Uzbekistan wait with great encouragement for the upcoming visit of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, which undoubtedly will open the new page in the history of interstate dialogue", the Minister said.
The high-ranking Uzbek official passed over the greetings of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov to the head of Turkmenistan. "They in Uzbekistan attach great importance to the relations of friendship and fruitful cooperation with the fraternal Turkmenistan", Ganiyev said.
The Uzbek Foreign Minister had arrived in Ashgabad to attend the signing ceremony of the Agreement on international transport & transit corridor Turkmenistan-Iran-Sultanate Oman-Qatar-Uzbekistan which will "allow intensifying mutually beneficial trade and economic contacts in the Eurasian area".
The two states are linked by a number of large projects; particularly, a gas pipeline leading from Turkmenistan to China via the territories of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan became operational in December 2009. The joint Turkmen-Uzbek commission for trade, economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation holds its meetings regularly.
Following the results of one of these meetings, the sides signed a protocol which stressed permanent growth of trade turnover between the two countries. It was decided to expand the list of goods and increase mutual supplies of goods, and establish new joint ventures.
The neighboring Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan last year increased bilateral trade turnover by more than 50 percent to about $270 million.
An example of successful cooperation is the joint venture Turkmen-Uzauto specialized in sale and servicing of cars in Turkmenistan.