Turkmen FM: Turkmenistan Determined to Improve All-Out Ties with Iran

Turkmen Foreign Minister Rasit Meredow stressed his country’s intention to further increase all-out ties with Iran.

“Ashgabat is determined to further develop and improve the quality of all-out relations with Iran in the future,” Meredow said, addressing a ceremony in Ashgabat on Friday night to mark the 34th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979).

“The leaders of the two countries have assigned important responsibilities to us to further develop and expand relations and cooperation between Iran and Turkmenistan,” he added.

Meredow said Tehran and Ashgabat have implemented abundant projects in the oil, gas, energy, electricity, economic, water, road-building, railway and other sectors in the past 20 years, which shows the growing trend of the bilateral relations between the two countries.

Iran attaches great importance to its strategic ties with Turkmenistan due to the country’s strategic position in the Central Asia.

The Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkmenistan signed a 25-year gas trade contract in 1997 under which a 200 kilometers pipeline was constructed for gas imports from the neighboring country.

On 27th November a high ranking oil delegation headed by Iranian minister of petroleum, Rostam Qassemi, visited Turkmenistan to talk on energy exchange, rising gas import from Turkmenistan and other issues including exporting Iranian made oil industry equipment to the neighboring country.

Iran and Turkmenistan sit atop the second and fourth largest gas reserves in the world.