Iran, Turkmenistan to hold 17th Joint Economic Commission

The coordination meeting for the 17th Iran-Turkmenistan Joint Economic Commission was held on Saturday with the presence of representatives from ministries and economic organizations on the eve of the upcoming visit of Iran Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Mehrdad Bazrpash, to Turkmenistan.

At the beginning of the meeting, a report on the history of Iran-Turkmenistan relations and previous MoUs and negotiations between the two countries was presented.

Moreover, bilateral trade potentials through four important borders between Iran and Turkmenistan, namely Sarkhs, Lotfabad, Inche Borun and Bajgiran were discussed and requirements to facilitate border traffic were reviewed.

According to the reports presented in the meeting, Iran’s export to Turkmenistan was 741 thousand tons to the value of $321 million and the import from Turkmenistan was 122 thousand tons to the value of $243 million, which indicates a trade surplus of Iran.

Additionally, issues such as transit, tariffs, green customs, rail, road, sea and air transportation between Iran and Turkmenistan were among other agendas discussed.

Shahriar Efendizadeh, Deputy Transport Minister, Mahdi Safari, Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy, and representatives from the Customs, the Central Bank, the Joint Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Free Zones Organization, attended the meeting.