TEHRAN - During a one-day trip to Turkmenistan, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji met and held talks with senior Turkmen officials to discuss the expansion of energy ties, Shana reported.

In a meeting with Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdimuhamedow, Oji conveyed a message from President Ebrahim Raisi, and then the two sides discussed various issues including cooperation in energy, agriculture, customs, transportation, transit, energy exchanges, petrochemicals, export, and transportation.

The two sides also discussed road, railway, health care, and the exports of technical and engineering services.

The Iranian minister also met with other senior Turkmen officials including Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan for Oil and Gas Affairs Shakhym Abdrakhmanov, in which the two sides discussed ways to improve the swap deal between the two countries and exchanged views on how to pay Tehran's gas debt to Ashgabat.

Iran paid 400 million euros of its gas debt to Turkmenistan four months ago, and the second installment, another 470 million euros, is going to be paid to the country in the near future, the details of which were discussed during Oji’s trip to Ashgabat.

Last year, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan signed a trilateral agreement to swap up to two billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas and the deal took effect as of January 1, 2022. Later on, Iran and Azerbaijan agreed on doubling this volume in June.

Earlier this month, Iran and Turkmenistan’s energy ministers explored ways of expanding relations between the two countries in the energy sector in an online meeting.

During the meeting, Ali-Akbar Mehrabian and his Turkmen counterpart Rajab Muradov stressed the need for the expansion of energy ties between the two neighbors.

Mehrabian pointed to the positive political relations between the two countries in the meeting, saying that good relations have also been established between the two sides in the field of water and electricity and significant projects are being implemented.

EF/MA