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Turkish, Turkmen presidents vow to broaden economic cooperation

Xinhua, March 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cooperation on energy and transportation lends a strategic dimension to bilateral relations between Turkey and Turkmenistan, said the Turkish president Tuesday.

Turkey and Turkmenistan share the same vision on exporting natural gas to European markets through Turkey, President Erdogan said at a joint press conference with his visiting Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguli Berdimuhamedov in Ankara.

Citing Turkmenistan's geostrategic location linking Central Asia to global markets through the Caspian Sea, the two leaders discussed delivering natural gas to European markets through Turkey, Erdogan said.

Erdogan said they will cooperate closely with Azerbaijan and other regional countries on this issue, and that they shared the same vision concerning the transfer of natural gas with Turkmenistan, he stressed.

"We decided to bring the issue to the attention of country leaders and hold the first system meeting in Turkmenistan this year." Erdogan added that among Turkey, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan a trilateral energy system was launched last year.

Scheduled to be finished by 2019, TANAP is a project which will transfer natural gas from Azerbaijan via Georgia and Turkey to Greece and then onwards to wider European markets.

"Last year, we had a 26 percent rise in our trade volume," said Berdimuhamedov referring to Turkish businessmen in Turkmenistan. Their trade volumes in 2014 rose above 6 billion U.S. dollars.

Wednesday's opening ceremony of Turkmenistan's International Investment Forum in Istanbul will be attended by Berdimuhamedov. Endit