Turkmenistan has friendly relations with Azerbaijan - Berdimuhamedov

By Trend

Turkmenistan has friendly relations with Azerbaijan and other neighbors, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.

“We are neighbors with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran - and we live in peace with everyone,” he said.

It was noted that Ashgabat pays much attention to the development of transport and transit corridors.

“We are opening the biggest port in the Caspian Sea, which unites us all - Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Iran,” Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.

It is expected that the annual turnover at the Turkmenbashi port will be about 18 million tons without taking into account oil products and about 26 million tons considering oil products.

“The port is for all of us, our neighbors - Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Iran,” the Turkmen president said. “We call the Caspian Sea a sea of ??peace and good-neighborliness.”

At the latest summit of the Caspian littoral states, Turkmenistan put forward an initiative to create a single logistics center for rational freight traffic among the neighbor countries.

“I hope we will reach consensus at the next summit to be held in Kazakhstan, and we will develop this logistics transit and transport corridor,” Berdimuhamedov said.

Earlier it was reported that a solemn opening ceremony of a new international port will be held in the Caspian city of Turkmenbashi in early May 2018, designed to ensure a higher level of trade and economic cooperation between the Asian and European countries.

The port’s construction project, worth $1.5 billion, is being implemented by Turkey’s Gap Insaat. The annual capacity of the port will be 17-18 million tons. The project also includes construction of a transport and logistics center.