Cooperation with Russia "is one of main guidelines of Turkmenistan's foreign policy," Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said in his message to participants in a bilateral economic forum, which opened here on Wednesday, Itar-Tass reported.
The forum is sponsored by the chambers of commerce and industry of both countries and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan.
"Turkmenistan has invited Russian partners from various regions to take part in key national and regional projects. Russia is the leader in Turkmenistan's foreign trade turnover. In January-June 2011 bilateral trade reached USD 1.644 billion," the presidential message said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in his message of greeting the two countries nowadays "have good opportunities for the sustainable and dynamic development of multifaceted interaction in trade, the economic and humanitarian spheres, and in carrying out full-scale high-tech projects."
Turkmenistan has established close business ties with such major Russian regions and industrial centers as St. Petersburg, Tatarstan and the Astrakhan Region over the past few years.
The Turkmen-Russian and Russian-Turkmen trading houses have been functioning in Ashkhabad and Moscow for a second year. Among Russia's largest companies working in the strategic economic sectors of Turkmenistan are the Vozrozhdenie bank, giant truck manufacturer KAMAZ, ITERA International Group of companies, oil and gas company Zarubezhneft and Sibir Airlines. All in all 183 companies involving Russian capital have been registered in Turkmenistan so far.
According to the head of the Russian delegation, Vice-President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Alexander Rybakov, the forum will consider geographical expansion of interregional cooperation with an emphasis on contacts between small and medium businesses.
Russia is represented at the forum by farming, processing and food and light industry companies from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Belgorod, Volgograd and Nizhni Novgorod regions. Representatives of the Southern Urals and Saratov chambers of commerce and industry also attend the forum, which will last for three days.
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