Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, March 19
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has sent heartfelt congratulations to Vladimir Putin on behalf of the Turkmen people, the government and on his own behalf in connection with a convincing victory in the presidential election of March 18 and re-election to the post of the president of the Russian Federation.
"We in Turkmenistan highly appreciate your personal contribution to the development of the Turkmen-Russian relations and express our confidence in continuation of a meaningful dialogue and constructive joint work on further building up the entire spectrum of bilateral relations for the benefit of our friendly peoples," Berdimuhamedov said.
The Turkmen president noted that the choice made by the Russian people is evidence of the high confidence and support to the course pursued by Vladimir Putin and aimed at ensuring political, social stability and economic growth in the country.
"I am convinced that under your wise and far-sighted leadership, Russia will achieve even greater success, and will also continue to strengthen its authority in the international arena," the message reads.
About 190 companies with Russian capital operate in Turkmenistan. ARETI International Group (former ITERA) has been operating in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea on the basis of the production sharing agreement since 2009. Russia’s Gazprom completely stopped to buy Turkmen gas in 2016.
The strategic partnership agreement between Turkmenistan and Russia was signed following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to Ashgabat in early October 2017. The two countries also outlined an action plan for the development of economic partnership.
Realization of specific projects, use of the geographic and infrastructure advantages of the two countries are expected first of all, in industry, transport and communications, energy, agro-industrial complex and in such areas as car production, aircraft building, shipbuilding.
The logistics sector also comes to the fore. The use of the port infrastructure of the countries on the Caspian Sea - in the cities of Turkmenbashi and Astrakhan, creation of a general ferry crossing is seen as promising.
Turkmenistan also confirmed readiness to increase supplies of its agricultural products and textiles to Russia. The priority areas of cooperation between two countries are banking-financial sector, support for export-import operations and joint foreign economic projects.