Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 24
By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend:
Turkmenistan has offered neighboring Uzbekistan to explore possibilities of using modern port infrastructure on the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to enter the European and Middle Eastern markets, the Black and Mediterranean region, the Turkmen State News Agency (TDH) reported.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov arrived on April 23 in Uzbekistan on a two-day state visit.
The Turkmen side is ready for joint work on creation of an Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Caspian Sea-South Caucasus corridor with access to the Black Sea ports of Georgia, Turkey, Romania and other states, the TDH reported.
A new international sea port will be commissioned in the Turkmenbashi city, Turkmenistan on May 2. The port is expected to be a transport and logistics center of continental importance.
This event will be preceded by an international high-level conference on cooperation in the transport sector. The ninth meeting of transport ministers of the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is scheduled for May 3 in Avaza.
In this regard, Uzbek representatives were invited to participate in the above-mentioned events, as well as a business forum of transport companies participating in the project on creation of the Central Asia-Middle East transit corridor (Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman), an agreement on which was signed in Ashgabat in April 2011.
As part of diversification of the continental traffic flows, Turkmenistan is also ready to discuss practical parameters with Uzbekistan to set up rail services along the Central Asia-China route, the TDH reported.