TEHRAN – Iranian President Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi spoke over the phone with the current and former presidents of Turkmenistan.

In response to a phone call from the Speaker of the National Assembly of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow on Tuesday evening, Ayatollah Raisi congratulated him on holding presidential elections and congratulated him on Nowruz and stressed the need to develop relations with Central Asian countries, especially Turkmenistan.

Referring to the development of Tehran-Ashgabat relations during the presidency of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Raisi said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has always wanted to develop cooperation with Turkmenistan in the fields of energy, politics and security, and your role in achieving these goals is admirable”.

Referring to his visit to Turkmenistan and meeting with the President of the country, the President said, "You can always rely on long-term and sincere friendship with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” according to the official website of the Iranian presidency.

Turkmen National Assembly Speaker Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow also thanked Ayatollah Raisi for his efforts to develop bilateral relations between the two countries.

In his first phone call with Ayatollah Raisi after the election results were announced, the new President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow thanked President Raisi for his congratulatory message and stressed the need to expand comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, saying, “I announce the full readiness for the development of Tehran-Ashgabat relations in all bilateral, multilateral, regional and international fields”.

In response to this phone call, Ayatollah Raisi said, "The nations of Iran and Turkmenistan are relatives alongside being neighbours”.

Referring to the importance of the North-South corridor, the President stressed, "We hope that in the new presidential term in Turkmenistan we will see cooperation and greater activation of the economic capacities of the two countries”.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Iranian president sent a message to President-elect of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow to congratulate him on his election as President of Turkmenistan.

In this message, Ayatollah Raisi stated, "I sincerely congratulate Your Excellency and the honourable people of your country on your election as President of Turkmenistan".

The President stated, "I hope that in the new term, the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkmenistan will have a favourable growing trend in bilateral, regional and international dimensions".

He wrote, "The priority of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to develop relations with neighbouring countries, and Turkmenistan has a special place in this regard".

Earlier in January this year, the Special Envoy of the President of Turkmenistan, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, delivered a written message from the President of Turkmenistan to Ayatollah Raisi.

Speaking in the meeting with the Special Envoy of the President of Turkmenistan and the Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Ra?it Meredow, Ayatollah Raisi stated that Tehran-Ashgabat relations are on the path to development, adding, "We are determined to take effective and useful steps in political, economic, cultural and social relations for the benefit of our nations".

Raisi called the bilateral meeting with the President of Turkmenistan in Ashgabat and the telephone calls between the two sides the beginning of a new chapter in the development of relations between the two countries and said, "In these talks, proper decisions were made to remove the existing obstacles on the path of the development of cooperation, including in the field of transportation and energy, and the ground for expanding and deepening relations between the two countries has been facilitated".

Ayatollah Raisi pointed out, "Tehran welcomes the proposals of the other side in the field of strengthening and promoting cooperation in various sectors, especially in the field of energy, trade and commerce, and there are no obstacles and restrictions in this regard".