TEHRAN- The second specialized exhibition on oil, gas and petrochemicals, water and electricity, construction industry, as well as technical and engineering services, dubbed “Iran Project”, will be held in Turkmenistan’s city of Ashgabat from August 19 to 21. 

The exhibition is aimed to prepare the ground for the barter of Turkmen gas with Iranian goods and services, the Shana News Agency reported on Wednesday. 

The first edition of the exhibition was held in August 2014 with the participation of 125 Iranian companies. 

Turkmenistan was the 7th leading importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2015, according to the Iran Customs Administration.    

Iran exported $973.65 million of non-oil goods to Turkmenistan and imported $113.72 million of non-oil goods from the country.  

In March, the two countries signed 17 cooperation documents in economic, cultural, political, legal, scientific, and technological fields. The two sides are determined to boost their bilateral trade to $60 billion by the next 10 years.

In a meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkmen Vice-President Khajeh Mohammadov, which was held in Tehran on May 11, Rouhani announced Iran’s readiness to speed up the implementation of road building, technical and engineering, as well as energy projects.  

In Feb. 2014, Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Mohammad-Reza Ne’matzadeh said Iran and Turkmenistan have the capacity to double their trade exchanges.  

He added that the two countries can raise the current $5-billion trade transaction to $10 billion.  

The Islamic Republic exports machinery, construction materials, sedans, buses, food stuff, agricultural and petrochemical products, electrical products and home appliances to Turkmenistan, and imports natural gas, electricity, textiles and agricultural products from its northern neighbor.