Envoy: Iran, Turkmenistan’s Growing Interactions Signify Failure of Sanctions

Tehran’s Ambassador to Ashgabat Seyed Mohammad Moussa Hashemi Golpayegani said that the remarkable growth in Iran-Turkmenistan trade ties signifies the failure of the western sanctions and pressures against Iran.

“Despite pressures, the level of the relations and cooperation between Iran and Turkmenistan had a 23% growth and this shows the firm determination and resolve of the two countries’ leaders for the further expansion of mutual ties,” Hashemi Golpayegani told FNA on Wednesday.

“We can say that the top relations between the Iranian and Turkmen governments and nations and the two states’ common history, culture and customs are so strong that no one can undermine it,” the Iranian diplomat added.

He pointed to the Turkmen officials’ remarks that anti-Iran sanctions cannot affect the two neighboring countries’ relations, and said, “Our brothers in Turkmenistan, specially the Turkmen president, have repeatedly announced that the pressures exerted by the western countries cannot leave any impact on the relations between the two friendly and neighborly countries.”

In July, Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov lauded the positive outcomes of the recent Iran-Turkmenistan joint economic commission meeting in Tehran, and stressed that his country has the largest volume of mutual cooperation and the most intimate neighborly relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“We have the best regional relations with Iran,” Berdimuhamedov underscored.

Also in July, the 12th Joint Economic Cooperation Commission Meeting of Iran and Turkmenistan started work in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and his Turkmen counterpart Meredow heading the two countries’ delegations.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with his Turkmen counterpart, Salehi said Tehran is ready to raise its trade volume with the Central Asian nation to $10 billion, up from $5 billion in 2011.

Iranian trade officials said they are ready to export technical and engineering services for Turkmenistan’s energy development and housing construction.

Speaking at the end of his two-day official visit to Iran, Meredow, for his part, called Iran the “closest and best neighbor” of Turkmenistan, and stressed that the ties between the two countries would never be influenced by “marginal issues” like sanctions.

Meredow also met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

At the meeting, President Ahmadinejad underscored the necessity for the further expansion of the two neighboring countries’ relations.

“Today, the level of relations between the two countries should further expand and improve in different fields and the two countries’ officials should do their best to that end,” President Ahmadinejad said, and described the two countries’ ties as a “role model” for cooperation among the regional states.