Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.13 / Trend F.Milad/
Iran become Turkmenistan's first trading partner in 2010, the Turkmen State Statistical Committee reported. Some 21.7 percent of the country's total trade value feels to Iran.
Russia, Turkey and China followed Iran with 18 percent, 16.4 percent and 10.8 percent shares respectively, the report added.
Turkmenistan's trade amounted to $14 billion in the first six months of 2011, showing 40 percent rise compared to the same period last year.
The trade turnover between Iran and Turkmenistan is expected to reach $5 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2012), the director of Europe and America bureau of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran said.
"Tehran and Ashgabat have great potentials to enhance their bilateral trade turnover up to $10 billion," Abdolhamid Asadian added.
The two countries' annual trade turnover currently stands at $4.2 billion, the IRNA news agency reported.
Head of the Turkmen Chamber of Commerce and Industry Palvan Taganov said that Iran is a major trade partner of Turkmenistan.
He said now 146 Iranian companies are carrying out several industrial and constructional projects in Turkmenistan.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier in June called for accelerating the implementation of bilateral infrastructure projects between Iran and Turkmenistan.
Referring to the construction of a joint railway among Iran, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, Ahmadinejad said "this project should become operational as soon as possible and serve the welfare of the two nations and the regional nations."
The 1,000-kilometer railroad will shorten more than 600 kilometers of route for transporting goods from the Central Asia to the Persian Gulf, and will become one of the important international transportation links between China and Europe.