President of Tajikistan expected to visit Ashgabat

Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, June 21 /Trend H.Hasanov/ The president of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov who is currently participating in UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, met with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, the national TV channel Altin Asir said on Thursday. Berdymuhamedov invited Rahmon to visit Turkmenistan at any convenient time which has been accepted. The parties discussed the implementation of agreements reached at the highest level, as well as broad prospects for diversifying mutually beneficial cooperation. "Aspects of interaction in the energy sector and transport and communications taking into account geography and the transit transport capacity of the two countries were also discussed." Calling for a further expansion of trade and economic partnership built on a long term basis, the sides noted the important role of the joint Turkmen-Tajik intergovernmental commission whose activity has increased significantly recently, in this process. The leaders of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan also exchanged views on topical issues of regional and international issues of mutual interest. It was reported earlier that Berdymuhamedov met with the Prime Minister of Tajikistan Akil Akilov in Ashgabat in late May and discussed issues of cooperation in the energy sector. In particular, those issues related to critical infrastructure projects such as the building of a gas pipeline through Afghanistan and the railway which will have "enormous importance not only for Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, but also for the whole region", were discussed. Tajikistan is experiencing a shortage of electricity and natural gas, the largest supplier of which in Central Asia is Turkmenistan. The existing transport infrastructure allows Ashgabat to export electricity to Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia. Dushanbe is also interested in the purchase of processed products from the Turkmen fuel and energy compl Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az