Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Aug. 14
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Turkmenistan invites Uzbekistan to look into the possibilities of using a port on the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to have access to European and Middle Eastern markets, Trend reports referring to the Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary (TDH) state news agency.
According to the information,the issue was touched upon during the meeting of the Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov with the Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov in the Turkmen city of Awaza.
Turkmenistan invites Uzbekistan to look into the possibilities of using modern port infrastructure on the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to enter European and Middle Eastern markets, as well as to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
At the same time, the readiness for joint work on creating the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Caspian Sea-South Caucasus corridor was confirmed, it was noted.
Transport is a strategic area of interstate cooperation. One of the best examples of this was the commissioning of railway and road bridges across the Amu Darya river between the cities of Turkmenabat and Farap.
"Overall, the Turkmen-Uzbek cooperation in transport contributes to the development of Central Asian countries and of countries in neighboring regions, being the most important factor in successful economic integration and partnership in the North-South and East-West directions," the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper writes.
A project on the creation of an Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman transport route is currently being discussed. This will significantly increase international transit freight traffic and provide a new communication corridor to global markets.
The volume of cargo transit through the sea harbor of the city of Turkmenbashi has increased. The ships transporting building materials from Iran are unloaded, while Kazakh wheat is loaded into the Iranian dry cargo ship at the port berths.
The goods which are supplied for Afghanistan and in the opposite direction - to Azerbaijan and Turkey are also handled in the port. The containers from Spain, intended for consignees in Uzbekistan are unloaded. The building materials, metal and wood from Turkey and Russia are dispatched.
Carbamide produced in the city of Garabogaz, polyethylene and polypropylene produced in the polymer plant in Kiyanly settlement, petroleum coke produced in the oil refining plant in Turkmenbashi city are supplied regularly from the sea port to Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and other countries.
The flow of passengers and vehicles transported to the Caspian ports by Berkarar and Bagtyyar Ro-Pax ferries greatly increased.
The opening ceremony of the new port in Turkmenbashi city was held on May 2, 2018. The annual port capacity will reach 17-18 million tons. Together with the port operating earlier, this figure will reach 25-26 million tons.
The cost of the project implemented by Turkey’s Gap Insaat company is worth more than $1.5 billion. After the commissioning of the new port, great opportunities have appeared for transporting the cargo supplied to Turkmenbashi along the Silk Road route from the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and then to the European countries through the ports of Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, according to experts.