TEHRAN - Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mahdi Safari, who is in Ashgabat to attend the preliminary session of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit, held discussions with Turkmenistan's Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers and Foreign Minister Rashid Muradov and the chairman of Turkmenistan's Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Dovran Khudayberdiev.

The meetings took place on Friday.

Safari and Muradov discussed the most important areas of cooperation between Iran and Turkmenistan in the fields of energy, gas, and electricity, transportation and transit, export of technical and engineering services, health and treatment, according to the Iranian foreign ministry. 

The principled policy of the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to prioritize the development of relations with neighboring countries, and in this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made great efforts to strengthen economic diplomacy with neighbors, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy said.

The Turkmen foreign minister also stated in the meeting that the two countries must grasp opportunities for bilateral economic cooperation and that the two countries' presidents have stressed the development of bilateral ties.

The Turkmen foreign minister described his recent visit to Tehran and the holding of a joint economic commission as very constructive and positive, and stressed the readiness of the Turkmen side to implement the agreements.

During his meeting with Khudayberdiev, Safari referred to Iran's capabilities in different economic, agricultural, and commercial sectors, stressing that the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to transfer its experiences in different fields. He added that Iran is ready for cooperation with Turkmenistan in technical-engineering, nanotechnology, and biotechnology fields.

Safari said Iran’s private sector is ready to participate in different projects in Turkmenistan.

Khudayberdiev, for his part, noted that the union is active in the agricultural, industrial, and road construction sectors.

He said, “We welcome the cooperation of companies from the two countries. We are aware of the capabilities of Iranian companies in all industrial and economic sectors, and this cooperation strengthens bilateral relations.”

Safari said on Thursday that Iran enjoys transit advantage over neighboring countries, noting that there have been talks about transit of goods from Central Asia and the Caucasus to southern Iran and vice versa.

For example, Mehdi Safari said, the North-South corridor connects Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to the Oman Sea in southern Iran.

Safari also noted, “Iran's transport minister and the ministers of transport of these countries had talks in this regard and made agreements to activate this corridor and these countries can send their goods to other countries through Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman and vice versa.

Referring to a Kyrgyz official's visit to Iran in this regard, he said that the Kyrgyz official and the accompanying delegation went to the Iranian ports and found a place to store their goods, and soon mutual travels by rail and truck will increase by %50.