Baku, Azerbaijan, June 14
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian Oil Ministry has prepared a package of proposals, worth $30 billion, for gas-for-goods trade with Turkmenistan, said Mohammad-Taqi Amanpour, the advisor to the Iranian oil minister.
Based on the plan, Iran will import $30 billion of natural gas from Turkmenistan for over 10 years and will export the same value of goods as well as technical and engineering services to Turkmenistan, Iran's IRNA news agency quoted Amanpour as saying on June 14.
"We have been buying gas from Turkmenistan for 20 years at $2-3 billion annually. To date, we have paid for the imported gas in cash. We expect to export technical and engineering services to Turkmenistan instead," he explained.
A program started in 2014 to identify all the ways which could help increase the bilateral trade, he said, adding that 70 capable Iranian companies have been identified in this respect and the companies have proposed their bids.
In May 2014, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Iran is willing to pave the way for exporting goods to Turkmenistan in return for importing natural gas from that country.
Turkmenistan was the 7th leading importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2015, according to the Iran Customs Administration.
Iran exported $973.6 million of non-oil goods to Turkmenistan and imported $113.7 million of non-oil goods from the country.