Turkmenistan , Ashgabat, Aug.18 / Trend, H. Hasanov /
"Turkmenistan focuses on strengthening comprehensive relations with the Turkish brothers", Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov said at a meeting with the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) representative Kemal Ozcan in Turkmenistan, the Turkmen government said on Thursday.
"In its foreign policy strategy Turkmenistan gives special attention to strengthening comprehensive relations with the Turkish brothers, with whom the Turkmen people are bounded with inseparable ties of age-old kinship, and a historical and spiritual community", Berdimuhammadov said.
TIKA cooperates in economy, trade, agriculture, culture, education, science, and social development.
In turn, Ozcan stressed that "the strong interest of the Turkish side, in particular, the largest international organization, aims to further develop mutually beneficial cooperation with Turkmenistan."
He said that regular bilateral meetings and negotiations indicate a real desire to expand a fruitful partnership, "based on centuries-old traditions of friendship and neighborliness between the Turkmen and Turkish peoples, which entered a qualitatively new level of mutual interest in recent years".
At this stage, over 100 agreements on interstate, intergovernmental, and interdepartmental levels constitute the regulatory framework of partnerships between the two countries.
The Intergovernmental Turkmen-Turkish Commission for Economic Cooperation has operated since 2008.
Over 600 Turkish companies operate in Turkmenistan. These have already implemented and continue to implement various projects in textiles, housing, medical and cultural centers.
The special direction is Turkey's participation in the implementation of large-scale projects in the Avaza national tourist zone on the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea.
The countries are interested in transporting Turkmen gas to Europe. We are considering the variant of laying a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea, and connecting it to the transnational Nabucco project. The possibility of transporting natural fuel through Iran in the future remains.
Turkmenistan ranks fourth in world gas reserves, after Russia, Iran, and Qatar.