Turkmenistan intends to further continue partnership for the sake of universal peace, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said at a meeting with Iran’s Minister of Defense Hossein Dehghan Sept. 17, the Turkmen government reported.
“President Berdimuhamedov said that in accordance with its neutral status Turkmenistan intends to further continue partnership for the sake of universal peace, progress and creative development with all countries, including its closest neighbors,” according to a statement.
Dehghan conveyed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s greetings to President Berdimuhamedov.
“The Iranian government attaches great importance to the development of a constructive dialogue with independent neutral Turkmenistan,” Dehghan added. “It confidently conducts a peaceful foreign policy, aimed at a broad international cooperation for the sake of common interests.”
The two sides stressed the existing potential of the Turkmen-Iranian cooperation, based on centuries-old friendship and good-neighborliness traditions and which is being successfully developed in the modern era.
Dehghan highly appreciated the international initiatives put forward by Turkmenistan’s president, including the creation of a nuclear free zone in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea region, which will positively affect the general situation in the world.
He expressed confidence that the implementation of these initiatives will promote the fulfillment of the global goals of the third millennium and mutually beneficial cooperation.
Dehghan said his country is ready to continue to collaborate with Turkmenistan to ensure regional and global peace, stability and security.
Under its military doctrine, Turkmenistan pursues the positive neutrality policy and is not a member of any military political block.
Turkmenistan and Iran border on the Caspian Sea, and also have an extended land border. During the years of long-term cooperation, the two countries have implemented a number of major projects.
As the two parties say, the most important project is the Korpeje-Kurt-Kui gas pipeline, commissioned in 1996, and the Dovletabat-Sarahs-Hangeran pipeline commissioned recently as an addition to the Korpeje-Kurt-Kui. Iran imports Turkmen electricity.
The two states have also built a border dam called Friendship (Dostluk). Currently, the North-South railway project is being implemented on the basis of a trilateral agreement signed in 2007 by Turkmenistan, Iran and Kazakhstan.
The annual volume of bilateral trade between the two neighboring countries stands at about $5 billion and can double in the years to come, according to the data provided by Iran.