Turkmenistan, Turkey Sign Eight Cooperation Agreements

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed eight agreements on bilateral cooperation and a joint declaration, on November 27.

The agreements included cooperation between the two countries' public broadcasters and state agencies, as well as cooperation in health, banking, economy, education and horse breeding, according to Turkmenistan Today.

At the end of the signing ceremony, Berdimuhamedov said that “an agreement was reached on close cooperation and joint efforts in creating transport and transit corridors along the East-West route passing through the territories of our countries. This, in particular, is true about the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey corridor."

He also stressed the importance of using the potential of the maritime infrastructure in the Caspian Sea, first of all, the Turkmenbashi international seaport, to establish effective transport links between the Caspian and the Black Sea regions.

“In cooperation in the energy sector, an agreement was reached to intensify joint efforts to create a multi-vector system of energy supplies to international markets, including Europe. Here, as a decisive condition for ensuring overall energy security, Turkmenistan and Turkey stand for further diversification of energy resources” the Turkmen president said.

During the visit, Erdogan was awarded the order of Turkmenistan “For contribution to the development of cooperation”. Erdogan regarded this award "as a symbol of friendship between the two fraternal nations and aspiration of both sides to further develop strategic cooperation".

Erdogan began a two-day official visit to the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, on November 27, along with a senior Turkish delegation, in order to attend the 15th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit.

The ECO is a regional political and economic intergovernmental organization. It was founded in 1985 in Tehran by the leaders of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan later joined it as full members.

Addressing the summit on November 28, Berdimuhamedov proposed that special business platforms will be created within the framework of the ECO to increase trade among member-states. He added that priority areas of cooperation were industrial manufacturing, agriculture, service sector and e-commerce.