Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Aug., 22 /Trend H.Hasanov/
The fifth meeting of the Turkmen-Kazakh intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation will be held on August 27-28 in Astana (Kazakhstan), the official Turkmen source said.
The agenda of the meeting includes the prospects for cooperation in the field of transport, tourism, agricultural and the fishing industries. The preparation for the meeting was discussed at a government meeting in Ashgabat, where President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov noted that there were opportunities to deepen the partnership and increasing humanitarian dialogue.
Particular importance is attached to the transport and communication sector. A joint project to build a North-South railway line which is to be implemented on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement signed between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran in 2007 can be shown as example.
The implementation of the project will open access of Europe and Asia to the Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. A similar opportunity will also be available for the transit of goods from countries in South and Southeast Asia to the Indian Ocean and in Northern and Eastern Europe through Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. This path is three times shorter than the Suez Canal. The new rail link will play a significant role in creating a new social infrastructure in the desert area of the Caspian region and the north - from Bereket to the border with Kazakhstan. The projected traffic volume on this route will be up to 12 million tons a year.
The two states are also cooperating in infrastructure projects in the energy industry. In this regard, a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan was opened in December 2009.
In May this year Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed to Berdymuhamedov about holding talks at the highest level and invited the Turkmen president to visit Astana on an official visit in 2012.