BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 2. Trade turnover between Turkmenistan and the European Union reached €1.4 billion, making the bloc the country’s fourth-largest foreign economic partner, EU Ambassador to Turkmenistan Luc Devigne said.
This was reflected in a press release issued by the press service of the Turkmen government, citing Devigne's remarks at the Turkmenistan Investment Forum TIF 2026, held in Ashgabat yesterday.
According to the ambassador, the EU mainly exports automobiles and electronics to Turkmenistan.
“Despite the significant results already achieved, we need to look to the future and seek ways to expand cooperation,” he said.
The ambassador said the EU intends to continue developing projects in Turkmenistan and across Central Asia.
Meanwhile, relations between Turkmenistan and the European Union are currently governed by an Interim Agreement on Trade and Trade-related Matters, which entered into force in 2010. A broader Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), signed in 1998, has not yet been fully ratified by the European Parliament, making Turkmenistan the only Central Asian country without a fully implemented partnership agreement with the EU.
In recent years, cooperation has increasingly focused on transport connectivity, trade facilitation, energy, education, climate policy, and economic diversification. The EU's engagement with Turkmenistan is carried out within the framework of the 2019 EU Strategy for Central Asia and the Global Gateway initiative. The EU has allocated €18 million for bilateral cooperation with Turkmenistan under its 2021-2027 programme.
